An Electronic Cuff Checklist Information Display for Extravehicular Activity

At the NASA/Johnson Space Center, an electronic version of the wrist-mounted paper checklist currently utilized by crewmembers performing an extravehicular activity (EVA) from the Space Shuttle Orbiter has been developed and evaluated aboard Shuttle flights STS-64 in September 1994, STS-63 in February 1995, STS-69 in August 1995, and STS-72 in January 1996 as a EVA flight experiment. The anticipated benefits of the electronic checklist include improved astronaut EVA productivity by providing a portable, on-orbit programmable, self-contained information display system allowing the EVA crewmember to have ready access to a much larger database than is currently provided by the spacesuit's paper checklist. This paper provides a brief background of what is currently available on the Shuttle Orbiter (i.e., paper “cuff” checklist), a description of the electronic cuff checklist that was developed at the NASA/Johnson Space Center including its design and capabilities, Shuttle flight experiment objectives, results from the flight experiments, recommendations for further development, and a current status of the program.