Extreme environments

The Habitability of Spacecraft: The International Space Station

OE was asked by the Canadian Space Agency /Agence Spatiale Canadienne to investigate the issue of habitability of very confined and isolated environments for different cultures and personalities. This was a very challenging and interesting topic which required the creation of a film depicting all the areas of the spacecraft's interior. The film was shown to participants from six cultural groups on virtual-reality goggles.

Future crews are expected to be larger, more multicultural and mixed-gendered, with a variety of technical training backgrounds and personalities.

After the virtual tour, each participant was interviewed. They gave free responses to open-ended questions and completed an ISS assessment questionnaire (ISS-AQ), created especially for this project. A thorough examination of habitability necessitated the use of both quantitative data, to provide reliable standardized responses, and qualitative individualized-response data, which were used to guide interpretations of, and elaborate upon, quantitative data.

The many individual results of this study collectively demonstrate that many factors are relevant to spacecraft design. A large matrix of relationships between participant individual differences and ISS habitability elements clearly show that many aspects of the ISS are experienced in significantly different ways, even within participants who are relatively similar in terms of age and education: all were young adults with advanced technical training. Besides culture, important differences were found that are related to gender, personality, and residential history.
- Report available on request

NEXT>>