Shrinking Orion's crew

Bye-bye six-crew Orion; hello four-crew Orion:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...20Orion%20Crew
This is looking a little more Apollo-like.. and a little more
doomed...all the time.
It also means a complete ISS crew switch with one flight is now out
once the ISS goes up to six crew.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Bye-bye six-crew Orion; hello four-crew Orion:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...20Orion%20Crew
This is looking a little more Apollo-like.. and a little more doomed...all
the time.
It also means a complete ISS crew switch with one flight is now out once
the ISS goes up to six crew.

Pat

No real surprise; just disappointment. :-(

What about Lunar mission scenarios; two crew? :-\

"Alan Erskine" wrote:

:"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
hdakotatelephone...
: Bye-bye six-crew Orion; hello four-crew Orion:
: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...20Orion%20Crew
: This is looking a little more Apollo-like.. and a little more doomed...all
: the time.
: It also means a complete ISS crew switch with one flight is now out once
: the ISS goes up to six crew.
:
:
:No real surprise; just disappointment. :-(
:
:What about Lunar mission scenarios; two crew? :-\
:

I think they're talking about still staying with four, as I read it.
Since the concern is weight on the parachutes, there's no reason to
drop the lunar crew below 4.

--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw

Alan Erskine wrote:
"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Bye-bye six-crew Orion; hello four-crew Orion:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...20Orion%20Crew
This is looking a little more Apollo-like.. and a little more doomed...all
the time.
It also means a complete ISS crew switch with one flight is now out once
the ISS goes up to six crew.

Pat

No real surprise; just disappointment. :-(

What about Lunar mission scenarios; two crew? :-\

No. Lunar crew is four also.

Assuming that one takes everything one reads in AvLeak as holy writ, of
course. Wait until hardware starts flying and the results of flight test
come in before making any predictions.
"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Bye-bye six-crew Orion; hello four-crew Orion:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...el=space&id=ne
ws/FOUR042209.xml&headline=Weight%20Forcing%20NASA%20 To%20Shrink%20Orion%20C
rew
This is looking a little more Apollo-like.. and a little more
doomed...all the time.
It also means a complete ISS crew switch with one flight is now out
once the ISS goes up to six crew.

Pat

Matt Wiser wrote:
Assuming that one takes everything one reads in AvLeak as holy writ, of
course. Wait until hardware starts flying and the results of flight test
come in before making any predictions.
"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Bye-bye six-crew Orion; hello four-crew Orion:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...el=space&id=ne
ws/FOUR042209.xml&headline=Weight%20Forcing%20NASA%20 To%20Shrink%20Orion%20C
rew
This is looking a little more Apollo-like.. and a little more
doomed...all the time.
It also means a complete ISS crew switch with one flight is now out
once the ISS goes up to six crew.

Why is it important to switch a complete ISS crew with one flight?

The Russians aren't giving up Soyuz, you know. There is absolutely no
defensible reason for Orion to rotate more than the USOS crew.

"Matt Wiser" wrote in message
...
Assuming that one takes everything one reads in AvLeak as holy writ, of
course. Wait until hardware starts flying and the results of flight test
come in before making any predictions.

Umm, because if we wait until then, it's no longer a prediction.



--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

Alan Erskine wrote:
No real surprise; just disappointment. :-(

What about Lunar mission scenarios; two crew? :-\


You can see it heading that way, can't you?
They claim the four-crew lunar missions are still "go" but I don't know
how they are going to make that work either, as you still need more life
support on the Orion for the Moon mission.
Maybe you are supposed to get a lot of life-support items out of the
Altair before heading back to Earth, as well as living in it on the way
to the Moon.

Pat

Jorge R. Frank wrote:

Why is it important to switch a complete ISS crew with one flight?

The Russians aren't giving up Soyuz, you know. There is absolutely no
defensible reason for Orion to rotate more than the USOS crew.

Convenience?
If it's not important, then why did NASA want to have a six-crew Orion
in the first place?

Pat

OM wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:53:43 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:

If it's not important, then why did NASA want to have a six-crew Orion
in the first place?

...One-shot full ISS evac capabilities?

Possibly. They are still fooling themselves if they think the Russians
would abandon Soyuz for Orion.

I believe it is more likely that six was the ISS requirement to "keep
the camel's nose under the tent" for a six-crew Orion Block 3 (Mars)*.
If a crew of four were baselined for ISS and lunar from the very
beginning, pressure would be strong to shrink the pressure vessel such
that later expansion to six would be difficult or impossible. Now that
the pressure vessel size is pretty much set, that "requirement" has
served its purpose.

NASA is not monolithic; there are many who believe that the 6-crew ISS
requirement was bogus.

*- Before the usual idiots pipe up, I will remind everybody (again) that
the Mars crew would not spend the entire trip in the Orion; the Orion is
intended solely for transport to and from a larger Mars Transfer Vehicle
(MTV).