Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!umich!dgsi!gregc
From: gregc@cimage.com (Greg Cronau/10000)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: launch rates
Message-ID: <1990Oct1.191917.24542@cimage.com>
Date: 1 Oct 90 19:19:17 GMT
References: <10195.26fde341@pbs.org> <1990Sep25.033816.16652@zoo.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: gregc@dgsi.UUCP (Greg Cronau/10000)
Organization: Cimage Corp, Ann Arbor, MI
Lines: 42

In article <1990Sep25.033816.16652@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <10195.26fde341@pbs.org> pstinson@pbs.org writes:
>>           1967..1968..1969..1970..1971..1972..1973  TOTAL
>>
>>Saturn V     1     2     3     1     2     2     1     12
>
>Um, could we get the numbers right?  1969 saw four Saturn V launches, not
>three.  Note, also, that pre-1969 launches were ramping up the launch
>rate -- Apollo 9, in early 1969, was the first Saturn V launch that was
>considered a "production" launch, not encumbered by major debugging work
>on KSC facilities and equipment -- and post-1969 launches were slowed down
>by the Apollo 13 accident (which is why there was only one in 1970) and by
>a deliberate decision to slow the pace to give more time for science
>feedback in a no-longer-open-ended program.  The original schedule, set
>just before Apollo 11, called for an 11-week interval between launches
>through 1971 -- note that only in 1985 did NASA exceed that rate with the
>shuttle, with KSC visibly overstrained -- and presumed still brisker
>operations following that for work leading up to a lunar base.
>-- 
>TCP/IP: handling tomorrow's loads today| Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
>OSI: handling yesterday's loads someday|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry

You're right, there were 13 Saturn V launches.
But I believe the original intent of posting this chart was to counter the
claims by a number of people to the effect of:
"We had a better launch rate with Saturn Vs. Why can't NASA get the shuttle
flying as well as the Saturn V?"
You cite the Apollo 13 incident as a factor in the launch rate. Well, the
shuttle has the Challenger incident as a factor in it's launch rate.
You state that the pre-1969 saturns can't be considered production launches,
by that same argument, you couldn't consider the first 4 launches of
Columbia to be "production" launches either. Your arguments about "ramping up"
and "major debugging" could be applied equaly to the shuttle program.
You also state that "the original schedule ... called for an 11-week schedule
between launches." So what? The original shuttle schedule called for 52 launchs
per year(1 per week). The Saturn program had problems, the shuttle program is
having problems. The *FACTS* are that the average number of shuttle launches
per year is nearly double what the average number of Saturn launches were.
I think these discussions should be based on "what is" rather than "what could
have been".

gregc@cimage.com