Space Human Factors Engineering for Exploration

Our National Vision for Space Exploration presents exciting new challenges and opportunities for space human factors engineering in the decades ahead. This paper briefly reviews the role of humans in NASA missions (both manned and unmanned). We then consider how anticipated paradigm shifts in mission architecture (i.e., increased complexity and duration), hardware development (i.e., spiral design cycles), and mission operations (i.e., increased crew and systems autonomy) emphasize the need for human factors engineering as a critical component of the design process.