Re-Engineering Student Thought Processes Using ...

AIAA SPACE Forum 13 - 16 September 2016, Long Beach, California AIAA SPACE 2016

10.2514/6.2016-5612

Re-Engineering Student Thought Processes Using Spaceflight Operations

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Tor Finseth 1 and Clayton C. Anderson 2 Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010

The concepts of operational thinking and human-centered design are important for human spaceflight and space exploration. The emergence of commercial spaceflight opportunities presents an anticipated need to fill critical industry positions within companies engaged in the space industry. Iowa State University (ISU) developed a Spaceflight Operations Workshop seeking to enable graduating engineering students to be more versed in aspects of operational thinking. The workshop approach consists of three components: knowledge, tools, and application. Students first gain knowledge in basic operational concepts of spacefaring vehicle systems, extreme environment of space, and human spaceflight. They are then presented an opportunity to utilize various tools to aid in their ability to evaluate situations and improve understanding, performance, and efficiency. Finally, students apply skills and knowledge gained to exercises similar to those used during astronaut training. Example lessons include exposure to NASA International Space Station (ISS) operational systems/procedures development; leadership and team building; decision making; and spaceflight physiology. These lessons are coupled with field exercises including SCUBA certification, airplane flight simulator training, virtual reality scenarios (ISS fire emergency response), wilderness survival, and skydiving. Through the workshop, students are exposed to human-centered design concepts of functionality and usability. Now in its third year of being conducted at ISU, reaction to the workshop has been highly favorable. Further goals include increasing student interest in STEAM fields, while providing awareness of and appreciation for a more operational thought process. The workshop offers a framework to better prepare students for positions in multi-faceted engineering corporations (e.g., Boeing, SpaceX, John Deere, Caterpillar). It is intended that future workshops will broaden in scope to reach a larger community, including educators and commercial industry leaders.

Nomenclature EVA IVA ISS ISU JSC NASA NOLS PADI STEAM

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Extra-Vehicular Activity Intra-Vehicular Activity International Space Station Iowa State University Johnson Space Center National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Outdoor Leadership school National Outdoor Leadership School Professional Association of Diving Instructors Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math

I. Introduction

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OMMERCIAL industries increasingly demand broad-based multi-disciplinary knowledge and operational thinking. However, academia has been slow to adapt to the industry’s needs. Operational thought involves the ability to make an inference about an abstract or hypothetical outcome of a particular action. To think operationally about procedures or designs, successful engineers require an understanding of specific human factors concerns 1 2

Ph.D. Student, Department of Aerospace Engineering, 537 Bissell rd., AIAA Member. U.S. Astronaut Retired, Distinguished Faculty Fellow, ISU Department of Aerospace Engineering, 537 Bissell rd. 1 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Copyright © 2016 by Tor Finseth, Clayton C. Anderson. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.

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including operator health and interface design, subsystem interaction, as well as a “human-dimension” aspect defined as how users actually perform operations in ever-changing environments. Teaching the human-dimension aspect of operational thought can be challenging, with few entry-level college graduates able to fully grasp related problems. In an attempt to simulate project team experience in academia, new courses on systems engineering and industry organized capstone senior design projects have evolved. Yet design limitations still exist with students lacking understanding in the human-dimension component typically gained through hands-on practical experience.1 A knowledge gap results between academic curriculum and commercial employee capabilities. The environment of space offers a broad work domain relevant to many occupations here on earth. Relevant aspects can include functions for vehicle life support systems similar to that found in submarines or airplanes, and EVA and IVA procedures similar to deep-sea diving or firefighting. The thought processes used for the space work domain can be applied and enhance tasks on earth through comparison of the engineered systems and mission operations. This is often exemplified by the transfer of spinoff space technology to commercial viable products such as freeze dried food, LEDs, or temper foam now available to consumers and industries around the world. A predominant question arises as to how can we continue to utilize this diverse design space for technology applications on earth? Human-centered design is an ever-prevalent aspect for spacecraft and should be addressed by utilizing experienced operators as primary knowledge resources. From expeditions to the International Space Station (ISS), a review of crew comments and lessons learned has shown that inadequate design continues to be a relevant issue, especially in areas of human-centered design.2 Crew operational procedures rank among the top habitability concerns for ISS crews with criticism focused on procedure length and difficulty. Many of these types of concerns may be mitigated by teaching the human-dimension and encouraging a more spaceflight operations-like approach; implementing considerations for human factors early in conceptual design processes via operators and engineers with exposure to spaceflight operation concepts. Academia can take a pragmatic approach to the graduate knowledge gap through science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) curricula by increasing student exposure to human-dimension concepts. Compared to the rest of the engineering curriculum, content would be less theoretical and more applied heuristics taught by experienced operators. Students would acquire knowledge on the topic, learn methods and tools to assess the problem, and apply this awareness to similar situations of real human interaction. By focusing on the humandimension and bringing relevant exercises tied to social science into engineering at the college/university level, it may help to increase student interest in STEAM fields, provide an awareness and appreciation of operational thinking, and better prepare students for positions impacting human-centered design. A curriculum was formed and implemented using a seven-day workshop format within the Aerospace Engineering Department at Iowa State University. The first Spaceflight Operations Workshop was held in 2014. The workshop is now in its third year. This paper deals with the scope and content of a spaceflight operations undergraduate workshop and the resulting outcome.

II. Workshop Development An academic workshop was designed to adequately address the knowledge gap between graduates and industry positions. With the initial goal of being offered to engineering undergraduate students at the junior and senior level, the development process involved identifying learning objectives, reviewing training methods for government and commercial industry, and selecting workshop content to best meet the needs of an academic environment while assessing accessibility and cost. A. Learning Objectives The workshop content focuses on operational thinking concepts which have subsequent application to solving problems related to spaceflight and human factors. With these concepts in mind, learning objectives were formed to include: ● Demonstrate social skills needed to working efficiently as members of high performing teams (crews) supporting task (mission) operations ● Assimilate information effectively in shortened periods of time within the bounds of rigorous and varying schedules ● Apply a high-level understanding of training and operations methods used by NASA in the training of astronauts ● Perform training tasks and hands-on problem solving relating to actual spaceflight mission operations. 2 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

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Figure 1. Workshop content: Knowledge, Tools, Application. Based on the objectives for the workshop, Bloom's taxonomy was used to form three key categorical aspects of spaceflight operations: Knowledge, Tools, Application (Figure 1).3 Knowledge includes basic classroom academics plus the conceptual understanding of spacefaring vehicles and the extreme environment of space. Students learn about concepts of integrated sub-system functionality and the impacts of the space environment on human physiology. Tools focuses on ways to evaluate situations and improve understanding, performance, and efficiency. Lesson content like decision making analysis, can be used to help students choose the best alternatives and conflict resolution techniques enhance student abilities when working as a member of a team. Other lessons include Leadership/Teambuilding which helps students learn how to recognize and lead groups that are in different stages of development. Application refers to the situational use of the understandings gained from “Tools and Knowledge”. As students complete exercises in real-life situations and compare written procedures to the actual application and felt emotion during high workload or stressful conditions. These application exercises may include SCUBA diving (working in a hazardous environment), wilderness survival training (expeditionary behavior, teamwork, mission planning), flight simulation (cockpit resource management), skydiving (moving in reduced gravity environment), and virtual reality (emergency training in stressful conditions). B. Selection criteria for spaceflight operations training content The workshop content was selected based on high-level key goals for space operations, social proficiencies, and team training recommendations for long duration spaceflight. The selection criteria ensure that students not only can perform and understand the related operational thought, but also are exposed to many interpersonal traits necessary for effective team dynamics. The government and commercial companies were evaluated for relevant spaceflight tasks, training practices, and future space operation goals. In the US, Russia, and Europe, the historical practice for command crews has been around a two-year training period for government astronauts.4,5,6 NASA training exercies for astronauts include task related training (e.g., Neutral Buoyancy Lab EVAs, emergency simulations in ISS mock-ups) and environment related training (e.g., T-38 flights, centrifuge training). Both task and environment related training have merit for an academic workshop, but future growth goals for space operations will need to be continually addressed to provide future graduates. Subject matter experts from different U.S. spaceflight companies, universities, and government agencies helped identify key growth goals for future space operations and training groups. These goals are important for the robustness of an inclusive academic space operations-type program. Mission operations key areas of growth include: 3 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

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• • •

Support mission operations with smaller and more efficient teams Create innovative training methods/delivery Provide effective commercial astronaut training in shortened periods of time with less than ideal schedules as compared to traditional NASA training Indirect training in psychosocial skills has the potential to enhance a student’s teamwork and preparedness for employment with commercial companies. For long duration missions, including missions aboard the ISS, groups of critical proficiencies were identified for astronauts.7 To successfully cope with the demands in long duration missions, there is a greater emphasis on effective interpersonal and group functioning skills. Social proficiencies are important for student course content, because in a project based environment high team efficiency is a critical component for a successful design. Proficiencies can be worked into exercise and lecture content in order to maximize student exposure. In the order of criticality, these proficiencies include: 1) Mental/emotional stability 2) Performance under stressful conditions 3) Group living skills 4) Teamwork skills 5) Family issues 6) Motivation 7) Judgement/decision making There are several recommendations addressing team training to prepare for long duration missions by researchers Noe, Dachner, Saxton, and Keeton.8 Their review includes recommendations of spending time together in high-fidelity analogs (e.g., the National Outdoor Leadership school (NOLS)), training involving extreme or unusual conditions, training based on concepts of operations, training to be self-reliant and resourceful, and fostering cultural agility through peer-to-peer contact with persons from different cultures. These recommendations can be paired with the Tuckman stages of group development to foster self-reliance and ensure appropriateness of content for a team’s current development state.9 Principles of servant leadership can also be utilized to promote group living skills among trainees and in hopes of fulfilling the team recommendations. 10

III. Workshop Content and Structure The Spaceflight Operations Workshop content sought to incorporate various training practices in the categories of Knowledge, Tools, and Application. Consideration was given to ease of training practice implementation, instructor availability and expertise, cost, corresponding benefits, and spaceflight operations content selection criteria. Much of the program content was derived from NASA training experiences completed by Clayton Anderson during his years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as a United States Astronaut.3 His personally taught workshop lessons included ISS sub-systems: life support, thermal, power, space suits/EVA, and operational procedure development. Based on the social proficiencies of group living and teamwork, the workshop schedule was laid out according to stages of group development: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.9 During these four stages, a group will increase in performance and dependence while focusing on a common goal. As the workshop progresses, content was organized for less interaction with instructors during exercises and increased crew reliance on their own abilities. The strategic scheduling of activities encouraged the students to more fully develop as a team and by week’s end they were expected to perform with higher levels of proficiency and enthusiasm without needing instructor leadership. To that end, Virtual Reality and Wilderness Preparation exercises were placed near the end of the week, as they required a higher degree of team interaction, mutual reliance, and self-direction. Students were introduced to the concepts of servant leadership and group development at the beginning of the workshop and then experienced them first hand as their groups navigated training activity hurdles. A virtual reality ISS emergency response fire training scenario was included in the workshop to further expose students to the social proficiency of high-stress operations and assimilation of a high amount of information from actual NASA training. The students were paired together and using the NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC) ISS Emergency Procedures Manual, were expected to formulate a coordinated response to a life-threatening scenario.11 The ISU Virtual Reality Applications Center is home to a world class facility, known as the C6. The C6 is the world’s highest resolution virtual reality room. The facilities 10 ft. x 10 ft. x 10 ft. cube room in which all six screens have projected interactive stereoscopic images that provide total immersion in a virtual world. The C6 was used as a test-bed for initial development of the NASA/JSC-provided U.S. orbital segment interior of the ISS.12 During the emergency scenario the ISS filled with increasingly dense simulated smoke and students were tasked 4 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

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with recording noxious gas levels, communicating with mission control, properly addressing crew safety concerns, and ultimately locating the fire source.

Figure 2. Students measuring simulated noxious gas readings aboard the ISS in the ISU C6 (left), Scuba diving certification (right). To obtain a higher level of understanding for operational thinking during activities, SCUBA certification was an important component. The PADI Open Water certification process includes five indoor pool dives and four outdoor experience dives. The certification process pushed students to operate and perform procedure in a different physical environment while under high stress. By the end of the workshop, students were able to plan dives in a group and display knowledge of how to successfully handle off-nominal situations.

Figure 3. Airplane take-off procedures using FAA certified flight simulators (left), skydiving (right). To give a more thorough and higher-level understanding of training and operations methods used by NASA in the training of astronauts, flight simulation and skydiving were included in the workshop content. Students learned the nuances of basic flying skills (e.g., how to use take-off and landing procedure checklist, work as a team to take in-flight measurements, communicate with control tower personnel, and chart flight plans) under the instruction of a retired Air Force fighter pilot. Incorporating a skydiving experience allowed students to experience an actual aircraft take-off and the unnerving situation of a truly unique environment. Both training practices sought to expose students to changed thinking paradigms as related to users in demanding and highly stressful timeframes.

IV. Workshop Implementation A pilot Spaceflight Operations Workshop was held August 4-10, 2014 at ISU. After its highly successful outcome, a second and third workshop were offered in August 10-16, 2015 and August 8-14, 2016. Yearly 5 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

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participants are selected from a growing list over 30 applicants per workshop. The pilot workshop was limited to six student openings (one crew), while workshops two and three expanded to crews of six members each. Each year has been designated as a new Spaceflight Operations Workshop expedition (1-3), in a nod to NASA’s ISS expedition nomenclature. To encourage collaboration and enhance STEAM opportunities available to Historic Black Colleges and Universities, the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Tuskegee University continues to contribute student participants to the workshop every year. ISU will continue this partnership with Historic Black Colleges and Universities in hopes of expanding and fostering “cultural agility” which is a recommendation for long duration spaceflight missions.8 The workshop structure consists of classroom lectures and interactive activities, scheduled over seven days from 0800 to 1900 daily. Expedition participants were grouped into “crews” of six members, with each having a “Crew Guide” for the week. The Crew Guide’s responsibilities involved serving as a mentor to assist the crew’s “healthy team” development over the course of the workshop. The Crew Guides were overseen by a “Lead Coordinator” in charge of basic logistics such as lesson timing and locations, transportation oversight, lodging, and meals. This structure provides exposure to group living skills and family issues, which are also recommendations for long duration spaceflight missions.8 Participants join the workshop with minimal existing relationships with other participants, but frequently leave the workshop having developed strong positive bonds within the group. To this end, the seven day format has distinct advantages compared to traditional semester long courses. As part of fulfilling the objective of engagement with the government and spaceflight industry, guest speakers are invited to the workshop. Past presenters have included Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, retired flight director for NASA JSC; Dr. J.D. Polk, long-time NASA flight surgeon and former chief of space medicine for NASA JSC; Cassie Kloberdanz Lee, director at Vulcan Aerospace and former business development manager for Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems; Lauren Worley, former NASA press secretary; and Dr. Fred Kennedy, senior policy advisor for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The guest speakers provide a pivotal role in exposing participants to new concepts within the spaceflight realm. Several ISU professors are also involved, teaching various aspects of the workshop curriculum including teamwork, leadership/followership, SCUBA, and flight simulation.

V. Workshop Outcomes Students are highly motivated by the workshop's approach and see positive outcomes from being a participant. Even with long days and large performance expectations, the students remain motivated and enthusiastic to tackle new challenges. In the time after the workshop, many participants experienced increases in critical thinking skills, cooperation skills as team members, and felt better prepared for future positions within commercial companies. The participants motivation was accomplished through team positive reinforcement and the strong relationships formed by consistent peer contact over the week. The small group dynamic resulted in members encouraging one another and offering support when a member was in hardship. The servant/authentic leadership styles were often observed in high-stress situations, such as the waiting period before skydiving or before descending on scuba dives. Other motivation factors were attributed to the diverse variety and engagement required by mixing classroom lectures and interactive activities. Students displayed a high level of engagement from the Knowledge, Tools, and Application training practices which constantly challenged their skills in varying ways throughout the workshop. Retrospective interviews with participants after the workshop, led many to comment on both the academic and social value newly resident in their personal lives. Based on student comments, many believe the workshop significantly enhanced their understanding and aided their ability when think operationally. The course increased their awareness of teambuilding and leadership, and they began to understand and correlate the significance of these concepts to their future search for employment opportunities in commercial industry.

VI. Conclusion Students are highly motivated by the workshop's approach and as a result, develop critical thinking skills, learn to cooperate as team members, and are better prepared for commercial engineering positions in many disciplines including spaceflight. ISU’s efforts to expose students to operational thinking concepts through the use of unique training experiences will apply to all related job opportunities. Using the Spaceflight Operations Workshop, ISU will continue to provide an incredibly unique student experience in hopes of producing engineering graduates who think more operationally and, through that personal growth, enhance their “marketability” for employment in industry.

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Acknowledgments Special thanks to Cassie Kloberdanz Lee, Dr. J.D. Polk, Lauren Worley, Dr. Fred Kennedy and Tomas Gonzales-Torres. Thanks to continuing workshop instructors and ISU faculty: Dr. Nir Keren, Dr. Michael Dorneich, Dr. Richard T. Stone, Dr. Clinton M. Stephens, Col. Robert Martin, William Wellington, Katherine Friesen, and Dr. Amber Manning-Ouellette.

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References 1 Guerra, L. A., and Fowler, W., “Space System Engineering for Aerospace Undergraduates,” 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA, Washington, DC, 2008. 2 Baggerman, S. D., Rando, C. M., and Duvall, L. E., "Habitability and human factors: Lessons learned in long duration space flight," Proceedings of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space 2004 Conference Exhibit, 2004. 3Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., and Bloom, B. S., A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, Allyn & Bacon, 2001. 4Anderson, C. C., The Ordinary Spaceman: From Boyhood Dreams to Astronaut, U of Nebraska Press, 2015. 5 Chambers, M. J., and Chambers, R. M., Getting Off the Planet: Training Astronauts, Vol. 56, Apogee Books, 2005. 6 Seedhouse, E., Astronauts for Hire: The Emergence of a Commercial Astronaut Corps, Springer Science & Business Media, 2012. 7 Galarza, L., and Holland, A. W., Critical astronaut proficiencies required for long-duration space flight, No. 1999-01-2096, SAE Technical Paper, 1999. 8 Noe, R. A., et al., Team training for long-duration missions in isolated and confined environments: A literature review, an operational assessment, and recommendations for practice and research, NASA Report TM-2011-216612, 2011. 9Tuckman, B. W., Developmental sequence in small groups, Psychological bulletin, Vol. 63, No. 6, 1965, pp. 384 10Autry, J. A., The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance, Crown Business, 2007. 11United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), International Space Station, Emergency Procedures 1a: Depress, Fire, Equipment Retrieval, JSC-48566, Houston, TX, 2013. 12 Finseth, T., Keren, N., Franke, W., Dorneich, M. and Anderson, C., “Graduated Stress Exposure of Spaceflight Hazards in a Virtual Environment,” AIAA SPACE 2016 Conference and Exposition, AIAA (submitted for publication)

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