Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!mvk From: mvk@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Michael V. Kent) Subject: Re: Shuttle Status for 04/22/91 (Forwarded) Message-ID: Nntp-Posting-Host: aix01srv.aix.rpi.edu Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY References: <1991Apr22.234907.29805@news.arc.nasa.gov> <1991Apr23.133522.21767@zoo.toronto.edu> Date: 24 Apr 91 00:43:14 GMT Lines: 23 In article <1991Apr23.133522.21767@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article rose@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Dan Rose) writes: >>This may be a naive question, but . . . Why do they have these planned >>countdown holds? Maybe "countdown" has a more specific meaning to >>NASA than it does to me, but it seems like there's no sense in starting >>a countdown until it's, well, time to count down. > >Well, the reason for having pauses in the sequence is to give some slack >in case minor problems develop (which does happen with some frequency). >However, it is basically a NASA quirk that the clock stops during these >planned pauses. They could just as easily be figured into the official >clock time. Not to correct the famous Henry Spencer :) but I believe the holds are there on purpose. The reason is that it is psychologically easier to extend a planned hold than to stop the countdown in progress. -- Michael Kent mvk@itsgw.rpi.edu McDonnell Douglas Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute St. Louis, Missouri Troy, New York Apple II Forever!