RSC Energia specialists and cosmonauts have conducted a series of experiments in the ergonomic mockup of the new-generation Crew Transportation Spacecraft (CTS) Federatsia and established requirements for manual controls.

The head of the flight testing department of RSC Energia Mark Serov: “The work was performed within the framework of the crew seats human engineering effort. Established on the basis of the results were inputs and requirements for developing advanced manual controls, man-machine interface and algorithms for manual dynamic modes of the CTS”.

Taking part in the mockup tests were experienced cosmonauts, young engineers-testers of RSC Energia, developers of onboard systems and modes. The requirements will be presented to the developers and become the basis for developing a convenient and multifunctional joystick for controlling the CTS in various flight modes.

The new-generation Crew Transportation Spacecraft (CTS) developed by RSC Energia is intended for delivery of people and cargo to the Moon and space stations in low Earth orbits. The spacecraft is reusable, its design incorporates advanced technologies, some of which are without equals in the world’s space industry. In particular, the CTS reentry vehicle will be partially made of composite materials, and have a reusable docking assembly. State-of-the-art avionics will allow meeting the challenges of the spacecraft rendezvous and docking in a more efficient manner, and will improve the crew safety during launch and return to Earth.

The CTS crew can be as large as 4. The spacecraft will be able to stay in free flight for a period of up to 30 days, and stay attached to a space station for a period of up to 1 year. The total mass of the spacecraft during its flight to the space station will be 14.4 metric tons (19 tons during a mission to the Moon), the mass of the reentry vehicle will be 9 metric tons. The length of the spacecraft is 6.1 meters. The nominal g-load during descent is 3g.