iiit-sh@cybaswan.UUCP (Steve Hosgood) (05/23/89)
Forgive me please if this has been asked before. How many shuttles can be launch-ready at the same time? I'm of the opinion that pads 39A and 39B can take shuttle-launches, and that the VAB has sufficient bays to allow the stacking of two missions in parallel. I see no reason why two missions can't be ready to go at a given time, and it seems to me that the recent Magellan launch with its tricky window requirements could have been 'multiplexed' with one of the less stringent DoD missions. Steve
fisher@moon.dec.com (05/27/89)
Re the question about how many shuttles can be ready at once: Pads 39A and B are both shuttle pads. The first 24 missions used 39A. The Challenger accident was the first time 39B was used. 39B has been used ever since. I believe that 39A is currently in the process of being upgraded. The VAB does have multiple bays; it was originally intended to prepare multiple Saturn V rockets at once (sigh!). I think there is only one shuttle in it at one time, though, but that is not a problem. The orbiter is only in the VAB for a couple of weeks. Not much in the entire processing cycle. I suspect there are several different sorts of problems that would preclude which you are suggesting: 1. People. They are out straight doing ~one at a time. 2. Safety. Is it worth risking two billion-dollar shuttles at the same time in case of a pad accident? 3. Mission control. Can two shuttles in space be dealt with at the same time? Last time anything like this was done was Gemini 6/7 (unless you want to count the CM/LM pair during the lunar missions.) Burns
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (05/27/89)
In article <457@cybaswan.UUCP> iiit-sh@cybaswan.UUCP (Steve Hosgood) writes: >How many shuttles can be launch-ready at the same time? I'm of >the opinion that pads 39A and 39B can take shuttle-launches, and that the >VAB has sufficient bays to allow the stacking of two missions in parallel. There are indeed two pads, although 39A has not yet had all the upgrades 39B has had in the last few years so it is not considered operational at this instant. There are four bays in the VAB, although I think only two of them are fully equipped to stack a shuttle. However, in practice, skilled manpower is short due to budget restrictions, and there are probably minor items of equipment that aren't duplicated either. The major infrastructure is there to mount two missions more or less simultaneously, but in practice even one at a time is sometimes a strain for the current KSC crews. Doing two in parallel just isn't practical without beefing up the crews and the facilities. -- Van Allen, adj: pertaining to | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology deadly hazards to spaceflight. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (05/27/89)
In article <2588@shlump.dec.com> fisher@moon.dec.com writes: >2. Safety. Is it worth risking two billion-dollar shuttles at the same >time in case of a pad accident? No problem; the two pads are spaced well apart with launch accidents specifically in mind. I dimly recall that simultaneous activity on both pads happened a few times during Apollo. >3. Mission control. Can two shuttles in space be dealt with at the same time? I'd guess not. I think there were four control rooms and corresponding facilities elsewhere in the original plans, but I don't think more than two were operational even during Apollo, and I'd be surprised if more than one is shuttle-ready now. -- Van Allen, adj: pertaining to | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology deadly hazards to spaceflight. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu