Manpower and costs for an orbital launch?

I suppose this is harder to figure out the larger and more complex any launch
campaign gets, but if you take one of the smaller LEO-capable boosters
(Taurus, Athena, etc) and assume there's nothing unusual about the payload, how
many people get involved in a launch? I'm not talking about the organization
staffing the ranges. I'm curious about the number of people it takes to
transport, integrate, erect, checkout, and launch a booster. (I specified
ground-launched boosters, as I figure Pegasus is likely to be an anomalous
case.)

Naturally, I'm also wondering what that costs (the actual launch process as
described above, that is, excluding hardware costs and range use fees.)

Thanks to all,

Matt Bille
)
OPINIONS IN ALL POSTS ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR

On 24 Oct 2003 03:02:19 GMT, in a place far, far away,
(MattWriter) made the phosphor on my monitor glow
in such a way as to indicate that:

I suppose this is harder to figure out the larger and more complex any launch
campaign gets, but if you take one of the smaller LEO-capable boosters
(Taurus, Athena, etc) and assume there's nothing unusual about the payload, how
many people get involved in a launch? I'm not talking about the organization
staffing the ranges. I'm curious about the number of people it takes to
transport, integrate, erect, checkout, and launch a booster. (I specified
ground-launched boosters, as I figure Pegasus is likely to be an anomalous
case.)

Ummm...too damned many?

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

On 24 Oct 2003 03:02:19 GMT, (MattWriter) wrote:

I suppose this is harder to figure out the larger and more complex any launch
campaign gets, but if you take one of the smaller LEO-capable boosters
(Taurus, Athena, etc) and assume there's nothing unusual about the payload, how
many people get involved in a launch? I'm not talking about the organization
staffing the ranges. I'm curious about the number of people it takes to
transport, integrate, erect, checkout, and launch a booster. (I specified
ground-launched boosters, as I figure Pegasus is likely to be an anomalous
case.)

Naturally, I'm also wondering what that costs (the actual launch process as
described above, that is, excluding hardware costs and range use fees.)

Thanks to all,

Matt Bille
)
OPINIONS IN ALL POSTS ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR


For Sea Launch / Zenit, their webpage states the command ship
can accomodate 240-crew members, customers and VIP's.

The launch platform can accomodate 68, but is empty for launches.


http://www.boeing.com/special/sea-la...facilities.htm






--
Rusty Barton - Antelope, California |
E-mail - |
Visit my Minuteman ICBM website at: |
http://www.geocities.com/minuteman_missile |

On 24 Oct 2003 03:02:19 GMT, (MattWriter) wrote:

I suppose this is harder to figure out the larger and more complex any launch
campaign gets, but if you take one of the smaller LEO-capable boosters
(Taurus, Athena, etc) and assume there's nothing unusual about the payload, how
many people get involved in a launch? I'm not talking about the organization
staffing the ranges. I'm curious about the number of people it takes to
transport, integrate, erect, checkout, and launch a booster. (I specified
ground-launched boosters, as I figure Pegasus is likely to be an anomalous
case.)

Naturally, I'm also wondering what that costs (the actual launch process as
described above, that is, excluding hardware costs and range use fees.)

Thanks to all,

I once heard it takes 20,000 people to launch the Shuttle.



Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill

"Christopher" wrote in message
...
On 24 Oct 2003 03:02:19 GMT, (MattWriter) wrote:

I once heard it takes 20,000 people to launch the Shuttle.

"It takes a village to raise a shuttle."




Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:00:49 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:


"Christopher" wrote in message
...
On 24 Oct 2003 03:02:19 GMT, (MattWriter) wrote:

I once heard it takes 20,000 people to launch the Shuttle.

"It takes a village to raise a shuttle."

A village with a population of 20,000, narr, thats a small town.


Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill

20,000 is the whole Shuttle industry - nASA and contractors, the whole program.
What I was getting at was, when you send an expendable booster to a pad ,
integreate a payload, and launch it, how big a crew does that take- counting
only the people directly with their hands on the hardware? Any examples
welcome.


Matt Bille
)
OPINIONS IN ALL POSTS ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR

"Rusty Barton" wrote in message
...
For Sea Launch / Zenit, their webpage states the command ship
can accomodate 240-crew members, customers and VIP's.

The launch platform can accomodate 68, but is empty for launches.

Delta and Atlas each have launch site staffs that number a few hundred each.
That's everybody: from the parts bin guy, the people that do your salary and
insurance, the secretary that handles the manager's letters, and the
technical staff of engineers, techs and quality inspectors.

-Kim-

"Kim Keller" wrote:

"Rusty Barton" wrote in message
.. .
For Sea Launch / Zenit, their webpage states the command ship
can accomodate 240-crew members, customers and VIP's.

The launch platform can accomodate 68, but is empty for launches.

Delta and Atlas each have launch site staffs that number a few hundred each.
That's everybody: from the parts bin guy, the people that do your salary and
insurance, the secretary that handles the manager's letters, and the
technical staff of engineers, techs and quality inspectors.

Yah, that's the hard in answering the question 'how many people'. We
handled 16 birds in thirty minutes with 20 odd people. But it took
130 *other* people to get us to where we could do our job, and
considerable shore based infrastructure.

D.
--
The STS-107 Columbia Loss FAQ can be found
at the following URLs:

Text-Only Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

Enhanced HTML Version:
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Corrections, comments, and additions should be
e-mailed to , as well as posted to
sci.space.history and sci.space.shuttle for
discussion.

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...

Yah, that's the hard in answering the question 'how many people'. We
handled 16 birds in thirty minutes with 20 odd people. But it took
130 *other* people to get us to where we could do our job, and
considerable shore based infrastructure.

Yeah, but onlike say a Delta launch, it was generally considered a "bad day"
if you had to do an operational launch of any of those birds. :-)



D.
--
The STS-107 Columbia Loss FAQ can be found
at the following URLs:

Text-Only Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

Enhanced HTML Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html

Corrections, comments, and additions should be
e-mailed to , as well as posted to
sci.space.history and sci.space.shuttle for
discussion.