A Lighting and Visibility Evaluation of the Shuttle/Mir Docking Target

Abstract

As a prelude to the assembly of the International Space Station Alpha, the Space Shuttle will dock with the current Russian Mir Space Station several times. In order to align the docking interfaces, the Shuttle commander will use a camera view of a target mounted inside the Mir docking hatch to determine and to correct misalignment. An evaluation took place at NASA's Johnson Space Center to determine if modifications to the target design resolved previous visibility issues and to quantify the effect of orbital shadows on the commander's ability to perceive target cues. Both the commander and pilot of the first two docking missions participated as subjects. Results of this evaluation showed that target visibility issues were resolved. Critical information was also provided to operations engineers regarding how to deal with orbital shadows during rendezvous. These results assisted ground operations controllers in instructing the STS-63 crew on what image data was required to verify expected on-orbit conditions for upcoming Shuttlemir missions.