Performance Assessment in the PILOT Experiment On Board Space Stations Mir and ISS.

Background: The aim of this investigation into the performance and reliability of Russian cosmonauts in hand-controlled docking of a spacecraft on a space station (experiment PILOT) was to enhance overall mission safety and crew training efficiency. The preliminary findings on the Mir space station suggested that a break in docking training of about 90 d significantly degraded performance.

Methods: Intensified experiment schedules on the International Space Station (ISS) have allowed for a monthly experiment using an on-board simulator.