Applying Research-Based Training Principles

This chapter describes a training approach that applies empirically derived principles of training to reimagining the overall design of NASA’s space flight training program. The chapter is focused specifically on the design of astronaut training for NASA’s future deep space exploration missions to Mars. We briefly describe NASA’s spaceflight training practices during the Apollo and Space Shuttle eras as well as NASA’s current practices for training astronauts for their missions to the International Space Station. We provide an overview of NASA’s current concepts for a mission to Mars to scope our training approach. We envision a new space flight training approach, which we term “crew-centered, mission oriented” training, inspired by the design approach offered in the context of airline pilot training. We apply some of the training principles reviewed by Kole and his colleagues in the companion volume, as well as by other researchers in training science, into real-world, practical guidelines for the particular context of training astronauts for a mission to Mars.