Astronaut Wakata's training report (4)

VRLaboratory is located in Building 9N

Entrance of VRLaboratory

Training at VRLaboratory

Training at VRLaboratory (STS-88 crew)

Training at VRLaboratory
Last month we reported that astronaut Wakata received joint training with EVA crew members at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), developing and discussing EVA procedures. Joint training with EVA crew members is very important for a robot arm operator. On June 7, Wakata received joint training with astronaut Peter J. K. "Jeff" Wisoff, an STS-92 EVA crew member, using a Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRLaboratory).

The VRLaboratory is a training facility that utilizes virtual reality technology. An EVA crew member wears a Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) to receive training in an environment generated by computer graphics techniques. The trainee wears gloves and attachments on his or her hands and legs as shown in the photograph to reflect the detailed movement of hands and legs in the CG image.

The VRLaboratory can display robot arm movement in the CG image. Astronaut Wakata operates the simulated robot arm and the EVA crew movements are displayed in one CG image. Astronauts are thus being trained in a virtual reality world. The CG image fidelity is very high. Details of the Space Shuttle cargo bay and various elements on the International Space Station are precisely depicted and various situations can be seen from most directions. Many astronauts have commented that the operations in the VRLaboratory are almost identical to those on orbit.

SAFER Development Test Objectives
Four EVAs are being planned on mission STS-92. If there is extra time during the fourth EVA after planned tasks are finished, NASA plans to conduct a Development Test Objective (DTO) for a Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER). The robot arm operator and the EVA crew member must cooperate in this DTO, which requires team work and cooperation among the crew members.

Astronaut Wakata evaluated and confirmed the test from the technical point of view in cooperation with astronaut Wisoff who will conduct the SAFER DTO on orbit, confirming the trajectory, position and attitude of the robot arm and the procedures for the robot arm operator and EVA member for cooperative operation on orbit .

Since no time-consuming special preparations are required for using the VRLaboratory, busy astronauts can save time, which is the advantage of this facility. Astronaut Wakata often uses this facility to repeat the points he did not fully understood or he felt like reconfirming during the training conducted in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, and to generate flight data for operating the robot arm.