Simulator-Used Backup Shuttle Ascent Pocket Checklist (c. 2004) for Cockpit Avionics Upgrade Project (CAU)
 
This complete Ascent Pocket Checklist is a rare “modified” version of the Ascent Checklist, developed for the new Cockpit Avionics Upgrade (CAU) project (1999 – 2004).  Approximately 1.5" thick, with tons of interesting information and lots of "yellow pages" (see below).
 
This is a simulator-used backup copy used in the Motion-Base Integrated Operator Station (Motion-Base IOS) at JSC around 2004.  It contains the full Ascent Pocket Checklist (APCL) for the CAU, as well as a full copy of the Ascent/Entry Systems Procedures (AESP).  Due to the large number of pages printed on yellow paper, this thick book was referred to as "the yellow pages.”
 
The Space Shuttle was designed in the 1970s using technology that was advanced for its time. During the program, a cockpit upgrade (called the Multifunction Electronic Display System, MEDS), helped to remedy the obsolescence of the original cockpit components, but MEDS did not resolve the human factors drawbacks of the legacy cockpit displays. To address these deficiencies, NASA initiated a usability-oriented modification called the cockpit avionics upgrade (CAU). 
 
Because astronauts train for at least two years before their first mission, they fully understand how to use the display formats. Nevertheless, such experience and training on the part of the users does not reduce the necessity of having user- friendly displays. In such a critical and potentially dangerous environment as spaceflight, display formats must be designed to clearly present information to the crew and provide them with an environment for flawless vehicle control, thereby maximizing safety. By taking into account the recommendations of usability consultants, astronauts, and others, NASA has successfully developed an improved set of display formats for the space shuttle.  The goals were to redesign the displays to improve situation awareness, reduce workload, and improve performance.  Under the cockpit avionics upgrade project based at NASA Johnson Space Center, each of the dozens of legacy display formats was redesigned by teams that included astronauts, human factors scientists, engineers, programmers, mission controllers, and astronaut trainers.  
 
Because of inherent constraints in the shuttle, not all recommendations made by the Human Factors Team were accepted. For example, electronic checklists were rejected as not feasible given the computational limitations on board. Instead, the crews relied on conventional paper check-lists as part of the Flight Data File.  This is an example of just such a checklist.
 
In late 2004, the planned implementation of cockpit avionics upgrade project displays was canceled because of budget constraints and the impending cancellation of the Shuttle Program.  Owing to these cuts, the CAU was never incorporated into Shuttle flight hardware and software, and was shelved for future use.   As a result, flight checklists for the CAU system are extremely rare—particularly examples that were used in the Motion-base Simulator.
 
Michael Grabois (a JSC engineer involved in the program), provided this account of the program:
 
“CAU was a project I worked on from circa 1998-2004, and it was planned to be the next generation beyond MEDS. The idea was to add some new hardware that would interface between the new screens and the GPCs, and would allow updated computer displays for the crew that would sidestep the requirement to change the flight software, and allow the shuttles to keep running until 2020. The new displays were in color, and we (the team developing the displays) were encouraged to go nuts and think outside the box in presenting data to the crew - show them graphics instead of digital data, for example, where it made sense. We mocked up the new displays and wrote "display dictionaries" on how they worked, and some software guys wrote code to make it happen. We came up with some simulation scripts that showed off the changes in the displays, and had several "crews" made up of astronauts run through the scripts. Then months later, after the hardware had been installed in the Motion Base for testing, the same crews ran through the same scripts, with data taken on how the crew performed with the new displays and the procedures that were re-written to take advantage of the new displays, as compared to the original "legacy" version. We found about a 50% reduction in both crew time to run the procedures and a 50% reduction in errors while performing the procedures as compared to the legacy version.  Unfortunately for our project, in the wake of the loss of Columbia, President Bush ordered the ending of the shuttle program in 2010, not 2020 (with delays and the addition of one more mission, the program actually ended in 2011), and so we were told to finish up what we were doing, document where we were, and put it on a metaphorical shelf so that someone in the future could take our efforts and do something with it.”