Most-delayed shuttle launch?

JimO I'm not, but following his example I'll be so bold as to check
with the collective s.s.h. wisdom before sending an article off...
The Astro payload, first flown on STS-35, was notorious for launch
delays, with a team T-shirt showing 17 planned or attempted launch
dates (the list goes right down to the belt line). Was this the
shuttle mission with the greatest number of launch postponements?


Thanks to all,

Bill Keel

On 28 Dec 2005 10:18:09 -0600, "William C. Keel" wrote:

JimO I'm not, but following his example I'll be so bold as to check
with the collective s.s.h. wisdom before sending an article off...
The Astro payload, first flown on STS-35, was notorious for launch
delays, with a team T-shirt showing 17 planned or attempted launch
dates (the list goes right down to the belt line). Was this the
shuttle mission with the greatest number of launch postponements?

Do "planned" dates really count, or just actual attempts? STS-35
had 5 actual scrubbed launch attempts. STS-73 had 6. I'm not sure
where to get the data on planned dates that didn't pan out. I'm sure
they stick in the mind of payload teams, though

Dale

STS-1 - it was five years late.


--
Alan Erskine

William C. Keel wrote:
JimO I'm not, but following his example I'll be so bold as to check
with the collective s.s.h. wisdom before sending an article off...
The Astro payload, first flown on STS-35, was notorious for launch
delays, with a team T-shirt showing 17 planned or attempted launch
dates (the list goes right down to the belt line). Was this the
shuttle mission with the greatest number of launch postponements?

STS-1 was put back at least 4 years, I think. Does that count?

Alan Erskine wrote:
STS-1 - it was five years late.


According to the Astro-1 team, they can better that - they had a manifested
launch originally on July 1, 1983 and actually launched in Sept. 1990
The instrumemt builders had no idea, when proposing the experiments,
that it would turn into a twenty-year occupation.


Bill Keel

William C. Keel wrote:
JimO I'm not, but following his example I'll be so bold as to check
with the collective s.s.h. wisdom before sending an article off...
The Astro payload, first flown on STS-35, was notorious for launch
delays, with a team T-shirt showing 17 planned or attempted launch
dates (the list goes right down to the belt line). Was this the
shuttle mission with the greatest number of launch postponements?

Mr. Keel,

Good for you, checking before writing! I wish more professional
writers did as much.

I spent a lot of time working on STS-107, Columbia's last mission. I
plotted the number of launch reschedules (no launch delays, IIRC), and
came up with a large number, more than were mentioned in the CAIB
report. Can provide that info next week, on returning to the office,
if you wish.

107 was rescheduled frequently because it was a
Congressionally-mandated research mission, force-fitted into the ISS
assembly sequence, and thus had the lowest priority.

John Charles
Houston, Texas

In article ,
William C. Keel wrote:
launch originally on July 1, 1983 and actually launched in Sept. 1990
The instrumemt builders had no idea, when proposing the experiments,
that it would turn into a twenty-year occupation.

Far from unprecedented -- Hubble was supposed to be a 1970s project.

For another example, Galileo was planned to launch in 1982 and arrive at
Jupiter in 1985. Problems with its propulsion-system check values,
discovered in 1995 before Jupiter-orbit insertion, were difficult to
analyze because most of the people who designed the hardware were retired
or dead.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

John Charles wrote:

Mr. Keel,

Good for you, checking before writing! I wish more professional
writers did as much.

Well, actually professional astronomer. I only play a writer
on the stage, or something!

I spent a lot of time working on STS-107, Columbia's last mission. I
plotted the number of launch reschedules (no launch delays, IIRC), and
came up with a large number, more than were mentioned in the CAIB
report. Can provide that info next week, on returning to the office,
if you wish.

107 was rescheduled frequently because it was a
Congressionally-mandated research mission, force-fitted into the ISS
assembly sequence, and thus had the lowest priority.

Thanks! This project threatens to expand to book length, so I'd
like to get as many of the details taken care of as possible the
first time.

Bill Keel

On 29 Dec 2005 18:55:24 -0600, "William C. Keel"
wrote:

Well, actually professional astronomer. I only play a writer
on the stage, or something!

....Then as a professional astronomer, I've got a really good question
for you: considering its proximity as our closest known stellar
neighbor, what research has been done with regards to planetary
detection on the Centauri semi-Trinary? You'd think as close as it is,
the planet hunters would have been all over it in hopes of finding
something within a marginally reasonable distance.

OM
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In article , I wrote:
Jupiter in 1985. Problems with its propulsion-system check values...

Tsk: "check valves", of course.
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spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |