Living and working in an orbiting spacecraft (i.e., performing "intravehicular activity," or IVA) is uniquely different from activities experienced here on earth in a one-gravity field. Effective crew performance is heavily dependent on the proper design of living and working quarters and equipment. For costly space missions, orbital mission productivity and crew morale are significantly enhanced when the space hardware designers and planners for the mission have personal direct experience performing activities in a weightless environment. While computer aided design (CAD) tools are helpful, only spaceflight itself can rival the design and planning experience that we provide with our suborbital parabolic aircraft flights.
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