[sci.space] back-up crews

brody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Adam R. Brody) (04/10/91)

Since they abolished back-up crews since STS 4, what is the plan if
someone gets sick or for some reason cannont make the flight?  How long
before the flight do the crew go into quarantine to prevent catching
someone's cold or the flu?

sklein@troa01.enet.dec.com (Susan Klein) (04/10/91)

In article <8025@eos.arc.nasa.gov>, brody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Adam R. Brody) writes...
>Since they abolished back-up crews since STS 4, what is the plan if
>someone gets sick or for some reason cannont make the flight?  How long
>before the flight do the crew go into quarantine to prevent catching
>someone's cold or the flu?

During the STS 36 in February/March 1990, Commander John Creighton had a cold
and the launch was delayed to allow him to recover. The launch was also delayed
for other reasons, such that when he flew, he no longer was suffering. There
was no mention of replacing him. However, on STS 33 in November 1989, Pilot 
John Blaha replaced David Griggs, who was killed in June 1989. Blaha had 
recently returned from a space mission as Pilot and was available. This 
situation has reoccurred. On STS 42 scheduled for January 1992, an astronaut
will be required to replace Manley Carter. He was a mission specialist on board
this mission of the Internation Microgravity Mission. He died last Friday in
a plane crash in Georgia. Since he is a medical doctor, and other astros
listed on the flight are also medical doctors, I would suspect that he would be
replaced by an astronaut, who is a doctor, or has a medical background. Anna
Fisher comes to mind, she is not currently assigned to a flight and she is a 
doctor. Since that flight is less than a year away, I expect that NASA will
announce a replacement very soon.

Susan Klein	sklein@troa09.dec.com
		--or-- ...!decwrl!troa09.dec.com!sklein
		--or-- sklein%troa09.dec@decwrl.dec.com

kaplow@pobox.enet.dec.com (Bob Kaplow) (04/11/91)

In article <8025@eos.arc.nasa.gov>, brody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Adam R. Brody) writes...
>Since they abolished back-up crews since STS 4, what is the plan if
>someone gets sick or for some reason cannont make the flight?  

    I wondered about this as well Friday night. After leaving KSC 
after the launch of STS-37, I went back to my motel room to follow the 
news, and heard that Manley Carter, scheduled for the last shuttle 
flight this year (STS-44?), had been killed in a plane crash along
with John Tower. I don't know what NASA does in this case, because I
guess it hadn't come up yet. I guess we will find out soon.

>How long before the flight do the crew go into quarantine to 
>prevent catching someone's cold or the flu? 

    One week. This I know for sure, because a friend of mine (Jay Apt)
is on the crew of STS-37. His wife held a reception on L-1, and told
us that he had been quarantined for a week before the flight. That
meant we couldn't see him off in person, and I probably won't get to
see him until this August. 

Bob Kaplow 		| UUCP:	...!decwrl!pobox.enet.dec.com!kaplow
Digital Equipment Corp. | ARPA:	kaplow@pobox.enet.dec.com
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