Habitability and habitat design

This chapter deals with habitability or the adequacy of an environment for living and working in space. Other chapters describe the harsh, high-risk elements of the space flight environment, while this chapter describes general habitability requirements and the mission factors (e.g., mission duration and distance from Earth) that affect elements of habitability such as privacy, proxemics, and mobility in microgravity, as well as psychological stressors. The second topic of this chapter, habitat design, discusses elements that make it possible to manage microgravity (e.g., foot restraints, handrails) and other specialized designs to accommodate normal life functions like eating and sleeping. The chapter concludes with descriptions of the way noise control is managed and how radiation shielding is required to enable habitation by humans.