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Author
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Topic: Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 shared backup crew
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Delta7
Member Posts: 1614
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-04-2021 07:31 AM
   
Was there ever an explanation as to why Skylab 3 and 4 shared the same backup crew, and more specifically what would have happened had they been required to fly both missions? Let's say Vance Brand, Bill Lenoir and Don Lind came back from 59.5 days in orbit after having replaced Alan Bean, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma for whatever reason. Then there being a situation where Jerry Carr, Ed Gibson and Bill Pogue needed replacing. Granted the chances of all that happening were extremely remote, but would Brand and his crew been allowed to fly back-to-back long duration missions from a medical standpoint? Would they have flown Rusty Schweikart, Story Musgrave and Bruce McCandless in that scenario? Why not just have named a different backup crew for Skylab 4? Certainly there were enough astronauts to come up with three more. Was it a cost saving measure? Or just NASA liking the odds against having to use backups on two or three missions in a row? |
Skylon
Member Posts: 300
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 01-04-2021 07:52 AM
This is somewhere between an educated guess, and wild supposition, so please anyone who knows more feel free to chime in. Maybe, SL-2 with all the procedures and contingencies needed in activating the workshop foe the first time had a dedicated backup crew. As it turned out the process became even more involved once repairing the launch damage got added to the mission. In any case, If something went wrong and the prime crew could not fly, then Rusty Schweickart's crew would fly. SL-3 and SL-4 were a bit more "operational." Were the mission objectives and profiles even all that different? As I recall, it wasn't totally clear if SL-4 would be any longer than SL-3 when things were in the planning phase. I wouldn't be surprised if a temporary medical situation kept Alan Bean and his crew from flying SL-3, then Jerry Carr's crew would fly SL-3, and (if the medical issue was resolved), Bean's crew would fly SL-4. Vance Brand's crew was probably there for a worst-case scenario. To fill a void if somebody died. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1584
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 01-04-2021 09:07 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
...what would have happened had they been required to fly both missions?
They would never fly on both. That is not how it works. If a backup crew is covering multiple missions, once they are "used", they are no longer a backup for subsequent missions.For Skylab, itwas three crews to cover two missions. If the back up crew was used on the second mission, then they are not the backup for the third. There would then be a determination between the two original prime crews who would be prime and backup for the third mission. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1717
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 01-04-2021 02:41 PM
Very interesting question. Exceptionally remote possibility but once a backup crew had flown, you could put together a crew from the astronauts who had been bumped. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1614
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-04-2021 03:21 PM
Assuming they were eventually able to fly... |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1584
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 01-05-2021 10:03 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Fra Mauro:
...once a backup crew had flown, you could put together a crew from the astronauts who had been bumped.
That is what would be done. |
Michael Cassutt
Member Posts: 362
From: Studio City CA USA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 01-05-2021 12:14 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
Was there ever an explanation as to why Skylab 3 and 4 shared the same backup crew...
Tom Stafford explained this to me circa 1999. He and Slayton, and Pete Conrad (who had a great deal of input to the Skylab crews) decided that SL-2 required a dedicated backup crew that included an astronaut physician (in this case, Musgrave), since Kerwin would be flying.They thought that a single backup crew was sufficient for SL-3 and SL-4. Yes, they had lots of other astronauts, at least in theory. But money and training time were factors. Note that Slayton recycled astronauts from Apollo 14/15/16 to backup crews when he could have created new ones. |
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