arg@warwick.UUCP (A Ruaraidh Gillies) (03/10/89)
Having just subscribed to sci.space.shuttle, and read through some 60-plus
items in a short space of time, I found that a good few of them are status
reports of the 3 shuttles and SRBs. "Oh neat," I thought, and then got
faced with screenfuls of acronyms and code numbers. But that's not my point.
What *is*, is, "How many SRBs are there?" The parts of the status reports
about the SRBs seem to imply (to me, anyway) that there are 2, ie one pair.
Waaaay back in the late seventies, my grandparents went on a holiday to
Florida, and brought me back a book on the Shuttle. This was, of course,
when the first mission was scheduled to be in '79, and by now they were
supposed to be going up *almost* once a week. One possible function of the
shuttle was supposed to be rescue of crippled missions in orbit. Now, how long
does ~it take for SRB turnaround? Could they be fished out, checked,
refuelled, shipped to KSC or VAFB (wherever there is another shuttle ready for
lift-off) in a day, say? I was always under the impression that there were 3
pairs of SRBs?
All enlightenment accepted.
PS: When is the next mission planned for? Nothing appears on the news in
Britain until the day before the launch nowadays.
+============================================================================+
Contact me on: | Ruaraidh Gillies | "Many men have tried."
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or | Warwick University | "They tried and died."
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| Great Britain | Paul Atreides -- Dune)
+============================================================================+henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/11/89)
In article <1526@ubu.warwick.UUCP> arg@warwick.UUCP (Ruaraidh Gillies) writes: >What *is*, is, "How many SRBs are there?" The parts of the status reports >about the SRBs seem to imply (to me, anyway) that there are 2, ie one pair. >... Now, how long >does ~it take for SRB turnaround? Could they be fished out, checked, >refuelled, shipped to KSC or VAFB (wherever there is another shuttle ready for >lift-off) in a day, say? I was always under the impression that there were 3 >pairs of SRBs? There is no fixed number of SRBs; indeed, the same sets of segments aren't necessarily re-used together. The casings have to go back to Utah for reloading, so it's not a fast-turnaround operation. I don't know exactly what the NASA inventory of casings is, but it's probably enough for a couple of dozen SRBs. In any case, they are good for only a few flights, so new ones have to be produced regularly. >PS: When is the next mission planned for? Nothing appears on the news in >Britain until the day before the launch nowadays. Tentative date is March 13. It must be clear of the pad by about March 18 if it is not to interfere with the Magellan launch; if serious delays appear, it will be postponed until later in the year rather than risk that. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu