User:Yawen Liu usc/Astronaut training

Notices
The sandbox may include copied content from Astronaut training; see that page's history for attribution. We have worked on multiple sections of the original article and contributed to some existing content. Subsection 3.1 Training Flow, 3.2 Purpose of virtual reality in training, and section 6 Virtual reality astronaut training of this sandbox are new sections we created. Section 4 Training by region and section 5 Long-duration missions to the Moon or Mars of this sandbox are content adding to the end of the existing sections. The Lead section and section 7 Small additions of this sandbox includes some editions to the current content.

The list below is the proposed content after editing; the edited or newly added sections are highlighted as bold.

Proposed contents
LEAD

1 Purpose of training

1.1 Training flow

1.2 Launch and landing

1.3 On-orbit operations

1.3.1 External events

1.4 Science experiments

1.5 Purpose of virtual reality in training

2 Training by region

2.1 United States

2.2 Europe

2.3 Russia

2.4 Japan

2.5 China

2.6 India

3 Future training

3.1 Suborbital astronaut training

3.2 Commercial astronauts

3.3 Long-duration missions to the Moon or Mars

4 Virtual reality astronaut training

4.1 History

4.2 Current virtual reality training

4.3 Advantages of virtual reality training

4.4 Disadvantages of virtual reality training

4.5 Future

5 See also

6 References

7 Further reading

8 External links

Lead
Original:

Astronaut training describes the complex process of preparing astronauts for their space missions before, during and after the flight, which includes medical tests, physical training, extra-vehicular activity (EVA) training, procedure training, rehabilitation process, as well as training on experiments they will accomplish during their stay in space.

The training is geared to the special conditions and environments astronauts will be confronted with during launch, in space, and during landing. All phases of the flight must be considered during training to ensure safety to, and functionality of the astronauts, as well as to ensure a successful completion of the mission. The Apollo astronauts that walked on the Moon also received training for geology fieldwork on the Lunar surface.

Edited:

Astronaut training describes the complex process of preparing astronauts in regions around the world for their space missions before, during and after the flight, which includes medical tests, physical training, extra-vehicular activity (EVA) training, procedure training, rehabilitation process, as well as training on experiments they will accomplish during their stay in space.

Virtual and physical training facilities have been integrated to familiarize astronauts with the conditions they will encounter during all phases of flight and prepare astronauts for a microgravity environment. Special considerations must be made during training to ensure a safe and successful mission, which is why the Apollo astronauts received training for geology field work on the Lunar surface and why research is being conducted on best practices for future extended missions, such as the trip to Mars.

Training Flow
The selection and training of astronauts are integrated processes to ensure the crew members are qualified for space missions. The training is categorized into five objectives to train the astronauts on the general and specific aspects: basic training, advanced training, mission-specific training, onboard training, and proficiency maintenance training. The trainees must learn medicine, language, robotics and piloting, space system engineering, the organization of space systems, and the acronyms in aerospace engineering during the basic training. While 60% to 80% of the astronauts will experience space motion sickness, including pallor, cold sweating, vomiting, and anorexia, the astronaut candidates are expected to overcome the sickness. During the advanced training and the mission specific training, astronauts will learn about the operation of specific systems and skills required associated with their assigned positions in a space mission. The mission specific training typically requires 18 months to complete for Space Shuttle and International Space Station crews. It is important to ensure the astronauts’ well-being, physical and mental health prior, during, and after the mission period. Proficiency maintenance aims to help the crew members to maintain a minimum level of performance, including topics such as extravehicular activity, robotics, language, diving, and flight training.

Purpose of Virtual Reality Training
Virtual reality training for astronauts intends to give the astronauts candidates an immersive training experience. Virtual reality has been explored as a technology to artificially expose astronauts to space conditions and procedures prior to going into space. Using virtual reality, astronauts can be trained and evaluated on performing an EVA with all the necessary equipment and environmental features simulated. This modern technology also allows the scenario to be changed on the go, such as to test emergency protocols. The VR training systems can reduce the effects of the space motion sickness through a process of habituation. Preflight VR training can be a countermeasure for space motion sickness and disorientation due to the weightlessness of the microgravity environment. When the goal is to act as a practice tool, virtual reality is commonly explored in conjunction with robotics and additional hardware to increase the effect of immersion or the engagement of the trainee.

United States
It can take up to two years for an AsCan to become formally qualified as an astronaut. Usually, the training process are completed with various training facilities available in NASA :


 * Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility (SVMF): located in the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The SVMF consists of life-size models of vehicles of the ISS, the Orion, and different other commercial programs. The purpose of SVMF is to provide a unique simulated experience for astronauts to get familiar with their tasks in space vehicles. Potential training projects include preparation of emergency, on-orbit intra-vehicular maintenance, and airlock operations. The facility also provides experiences for astronauts in real-time communications with the ground team for mission support.
 * KC-135 Stratotanker: the KC-135 is an air-refueling plane designed by Boeing. Known as the “Weightless Wonder” or the “Vomit Comet”, this plane is the most famous of its kind, which has served to simulate reduced or microgravity environments for NASA astronauts since 1994. The “roller coaster” maneuvers that the plane is capable of doing provide people as well as equipment onboard about 20-25 seconds of weightlessness.
 * The Precision Air-Bearing Floor (PABF): located in the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Because of the microgravity environment in space, the resulting lack of friction posts difficulties for astronauts to move and stop large objects. The PABF is a “flat floor” that uses compressed air to suspend typical hardwares or mock-ups that astronauts may encounter in space above the ground. It is used to simulate low-friction environments for astronauts to learn to move large objects.
 * The Neutral Buoyancy Lab: (NBL): located in the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Through a combination of weighting and floating effects, the NBL creates a balance between the tendencies to sink and to float, and therefore simulating the experience of weightlessness. In the NBL, several full-size models of the space vehicles are present in a large “water tank”. Unlike the SVMF, the NBL helps astronauts train on projects such as maintenance, but outside of the space vehicle.

Long-duration missions to the Moon or Mars
A journey to Mars will require astronauts to remain in the crew capsule for nine months. The monotony and isolation of the journey present new psychological challenges. The long period spent in the crew capsule is comparable to other forms of solitary confinement, such as in submarines or Antarctic bases. Being in an isolated and confined environment generates stress, interpersonal conflict, and other behavioral and mental problems. However, natural scenery and communication with loved ones has shown to relax and lessen these effects. A Network of Social Interactions for Bilateral Life Enhancement (ANSIBLE), which provides natural scenery and socialization in a virtual reality environment, is being researched as a solution to behavioral health.

Researchers are looking into how current mental health tools can be adjusted to help the crew face stressors that will arise in an isolated, confined environment (ICE) during extended missions. The International Space Station uses a behavioral conflict management system known as the Virtual Space Station (VSS) to minimize conflict between crew members and address psychological challenges. The program has modules that focus on relationship management, stress and depression that guide astronaut’s through a virtual therapy session in space.

History
Virtual reality technologies first came to a commercial release in the 1990s. It is not until then did people realize that VR can be used in training astronauts. The earlier VR gears for astronaut training are dedicated to enhance the communication between robot arm operators and the astronaut during Extravehicular Activities (EVA). It brings EVA crew members and robot arm operators together, in live, even when they are on board a spacecraft. It is also used to replace some of the oversized models that cannot fit in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL).

In 1993, astronauts were trained and evaluated on working on the Hubble Space Telescope through a virtual reality training tool, Research in Human Factors Aspects of Enhanced Virtual Environments for EVA Training and Simulation (RAVEN). However, the aim of RAVEN was not to train astronauts but to evaluate the efficacy of training using virtual reality versus underwater and other setup.

Through the years of technological development in VR, the hardware for the VR Lab in NASA has also significantly improved. Both the material and the resolution of the display are being renovated :


 * 1991: Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD) - 320x420
 * 1992: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) - 1280x1024
 * 2005: Micro Organic Light-Emitting Diode (micro-OLED) - 800x600
 * 2012: LCD - 1280x720
 * 2015: OLED - 1920x1080

Virtual reality has also been adopted to a much wider range of fields in space exploration throughout the history of technology renovation. The newer applications of VR include but are not limited to :


 * Mission planning
 * Cooperative and interactive designing
 * Engineering problem-solving
 * Data modeling

Current virtual reality training
While the extravehicular activities (EVAs) training facility can simulate the space conditions, including pressure and lighting, the Micro-g environment cannot be fully reconstructed in the Earth’s 1-G environment. Virtual reality is utilized during EVA training to increase the immersion of the training process. NASA Johnson Space Center has facilities such as the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRL), and Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL).

The SVMF uses the Partial Gravity Simulator (PGS) and air bearing floor (PABF) to simulate the zero-gravity and the effects of Newton's laws of motion. Similar training systems originated from the Apollo and Gemini training. Virtual reality enhances an astronaut’s senses during training modules like fluid quick disconnect operations, spacewalks, and the orbiter’s Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS) repairs.

NASA Virtual Reality Laboratory utilizes virtual reality to supplement the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) as simplified aid. The VR training offers a graphical 3-dimensional simulation of the International Space Station (ISS) with a headset, haptic feedback gloves, and motion tracker. In 2018, two Expedition 55 astronauts Richard R. Arnold and Andrew J. Feustel, received virtual reality training and performed the 210th spacewalk. The Virtual Reality Laboratory offers astronauts an immersive VR experience for spacewalks before launching into space. The training process combines a graphical rendering program that replicates the ISS and a device called the Charlotte Robot that allows astronauts to visually explore their surroundings while interacting with an object. The Charlotte robot is a simple device with a metal arm attached to the side that allows a user to interact with the device. The user wears haptic feedback gloves with force sensors that send signals to a central computer. In response, the central computer maneuvers the device using a web of cables and calculates how it would act in space through physics. While objects are weightless in space, an astronaut has to be familiar with an object's forces of inertia and understand how the object will respond to simple motions to avoid losing it in space. Training can be completed individually or with a partner. This allows astronauts to learn how to interact with mass and moments of inertia in a microgravity environment.

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) has advantages in simulating a zero-gravity environment and reproducing the sensation of floating in space. The training method is achieved by constructing a low gravity environment through Maintaining the Natural buoyancy in one of the largest pools in the world. The NBL pool used to practice extravehicular activities or spacewalks is 62 meters (202 feet) long, 31 meters (102 feet) wide, and 12 meters (40 feet) deep, with a capacity of 6.2 million gallons. Underwater head-mounted display (U-HMD) virtual reality headset is used to provide visual information during the training with a frame rate of 60 fps and screen resolution of 1280 by 1440. The underwater VR training system has a reduced training cost because of the accessibility of the VR applications, and astronauts need less time to complete the assigned practice task.

Despite the NASA training modules, commercial spaceflight training also uses virtual reality technology to improve their training systems. Boeing’s virtual reality team develops a training system for Boeing Starliner to train astronauts to transport between the Earth and the ISS. The VR training system can simulate high-speed situations and emergency scenarios, for instance, launching, entering the space, and landing at an unexpected location.

Advantages of virtual reality training
Visual reorientation is a phenomenon that happens when the perception of an object changes because of the changing visual field and cues. This illusion will alter the astronaut’s perception of the orienting force of gravity and then lose spatial direction. The astronauts must develop good spatial awareness and orientation to overcome visual reorientation. In the traditional disorientation training, for instance, the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center trains the astronaut by simulating a microgravity environment through a centrifuge. In contrast, VR training requires less gear, training the astronauts more economically.

Virtual reality training utilizes the mix-realistic interaction devices, such as cockpits in flight simulators can reduce the simulation sickness and increase user movement. Compared to traditional training, VR training performs better to minimize the effects of space motion sickness and spatial disorientation. Astronauts who received VR training can perform the task 12% faster, with a 53% decrease in nausea symptoms.

While VR is used in astronaut training on the ground, immersive technology also contributes to on-orbit training. VR Head-mounted display (HMD) can help the astronaut maintain physical well-being as part of proficiency maintenance training. Moreover, VR systems are used to ensure the mental health of the crewmembers. The simulations of social scenarios can mitigate the stress and establish the connectedness under the isolated and confined environment (ICE).

Virtual reality acclimates astronauts to environments in space such as the International Space Station before leaving earth. While astronauts can familiarize themselves with the ISS during training in the NBL, they are only able to see certain sections of the station. While it prepares astronauts for the tasks they are performing in space, it does not necessarily give them a full spatial understanding of the station’s layout. That’s where Virtual Reality plays an important role. The Virtual Reality Lab uses a system known as the Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics program (DOUG) to model the ISS’s exterior including decals, fluid lines, and electrical lines, so that the crew can acclimate to their new environment. The level of detail goes beyond the exterior of the station. When a user enters space, they see pure black until their pupil’s dilate and the sky fills with stars in an occurrence called the ‘blooming effect’.

Disadvantages of virtual reality training
While virtual reality prepares astronauts for the unfamiliar tasks they will face in outer space, the training is unable to replicate the psychological and emotional stress that astronauts face on a daily basis. This is because virtual tasks do not hold the same repercussions as the real task and the technology does not produce strong psychological effects, like claustrophobia, that often occurs in enclosed environments.

Stimulating a virtual microgravity environment can be costly due to additional equipment requirements. Unlike commercialized virtual reality, the equipment that NASA uses cannot be produced at a large scale because the systems require supplemental technology. Several VR programs work in combination with the Neutral Buoyancy Lab or the Charlotte Robot in the Virtual Reality Lab which requires expensive facilities and does not eliminate the travel component that VR can minimize. NASA’s Charlotte robot is restricted by cables that simulate the microgravity environment and the Virtual Reality Lab only has two machines in their possession. This particular training system requires a virtual glovebox system (GVX) that has been incorporated into training at NASA and the EVA virtual system at the Astronaut Center of China. Using sensors embedded in the fabric, the gloves can sense when the wearer  decides to  grasp an object or release it, but the technology needs to be further developed to integrate precise user movements into virtual programs. These gloves have been reported to be uncomfortable and only capture limited movements. Full-body motion sensors have also been incorporated into training and tend to be expensive but necessary in order to have effective tactile feedback in response to the astronauts movements. While virtual reality programs have been developed that do not require full-body sensors, the absence reduces the degree to which a user can interact with the virtual world.

Future
The primary focus of future research of virtual reality technologies in space exploration is to develop a method of simulating a microgravity environment. Although it has been a goal since the beginning of VR being used in astronaut training, minor progress has been made. The current setup uses a bungee rope attached to a person’s feet, a swing attached to the body, and finally a head mounted VR display (HMD). However, from participants in experiments that use this setup to simulate reduced gravity environments, they only experience the feel of moving around in space with the help of VR, but the experience does not resemble a real zero-gravity environment in outer space. Specifically, the pressure from the bungee rope and the swing because of the participants’ own weight creates an unreal and unpleasant feeling. The current technology may be enough for the general public to experience what moving around in space is like, but it is still far from being formally used as an astronaut training tool.

These efforts of simulating micro-gravity serve a similar purpose of creating an increasingly immersive environment for astronaut training. In fact, this is a developing trend for the entire VR industry. The ultimate scene VR experience that we are imagining will eventually be marked by the elimination between the real and the virtual world.

Suborbital astronaut training
Orig: While it is likely that the first generation of non-government spaceflight astronauts will perform suborbital trajectories, currently some companies like Virgin Galactic and Xcor Aerospace are developing their own proprietary suborbital astronaut training programs, however the first official Suborbital Astronaut Training program of the 21st century was a joint effort between the two government agencies, the Ecuadorian Air Force and the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center developed the ASA/T (Advanced Suborbital Astronaut Training) program with a duration up to 16 months, it started in 2005 and completed in 2007 focusing in command and research duties during short duration missions with suborbital trajectories up to 180 kilometers.

Edited: While the first generation of non-government spaceflight astronauts will likely perform suborbital trajectories, currently companies like Virgin Galactic and Xcor Aerospace are developing proprietary suborbital astronaut training programs. However, the first official Suborbital Astronaut Training program was a joint effort between two government agencies. The Ecuadorian Air Force and the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center developed the ASA/T (Advanced Suborbital Astronaut Training) program which lasted up to 16 months between 2005 to 2007 and focused on command and research duties during short missions with suborbital trajectories up to 180 kilometers.

Commercial Astronauts
Orig: This type of medical screening process will differ from that for space agency astronauts selection and training because the goal is not to fly the highest performing best individual, but merely to ensure a safe flight for the passengers under the rigors of space travel.

Edited: This process will differ from that for space agency astronauts because the goal is not to fly the best individual, but to ensure a safe flight for the passengers.

(Edited according to JW's rules for conciseness)

United States
Orig: The shuttle training aircraft was exclusively used by the commander and pilot astronauts for landing practices until the retirement of the Shuttle, while advanced simulation system facilities are used by all the candidates to learn how to work and successfully fulfill their tasks in the space environment.

Edit: The commander and pilot astronauts use the shuttle training aircraft exclusively for landing practices, while the candidates use advanced simulation system facilities to learn to perform their tasks in the space environment.

(Edited according to JW's rules for conciseness)

Orig: It starts at about three months prior to launch and serves to prepare the candidates specifically for the mission they have been assigned to.

Edit: It starts three months prior to launch, preparing candidates for their assigned mission.

(Edited according to JW's rules for conciseness)