Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Minimum Shuttle Crew Size
Message-ID: <1989Nov10.172602.322@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <765@hutto.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 89 17:26:02 GMT

In article <765@hutto.UUCP> henry@hutto.UUCP (Henry Melton) writes:
>After watching Mission Impossible, my son asked:  What is the smallest
>number of people it would take to successfully crew a USA shuttle
>flight?  

It depends on what the mission is doing.  Most of those folks are aboard
to tend to payloads and such, not to fly the bird.  If the payloads are
assumed to be undemanding, it's a known fact that you can get by with
two (since the first test flight just had Young and Crippen aboard),
and I'd guess that one person could manage the essentials in a pinch.
-- 
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu