Development and Testing of Intra-Vehicular Restraints and Mobility Aids for the Space Station Freedom

Restraint and mobility of personnel and equipment in the unique interior of Space Station Freedom will require the aid of a set of architecturally compatible yet operationally versatile and durable equipment This paper describes the development to-date of this equipment.

An overview of the history of intravehicular (IVA) Restraints and Mobility Aids (R&MA) on the Skylab and the Space Shuttle provides the basis for system requirements. These system constraints and the process used to select hardware concepts are presented. Flight testing of R&MA foot restraints is shown to have provided concept verification and iteration. System considerations which provide the basis for on-orbit hardware allocations is then presented.