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Author
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Topic: Most experienced crew on launch day
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-29-2012 09:48 AM
  
Which flight had the most experienced crew on launch day?For example, the Apollo 15 crew had 5 missions between them on launch day, including Apollo 15. Some flights launched and landed with different crews, so let's just say on launch day. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2486
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 02-29-2012 10:45 AM
The Apollo 8 crew has to be in the reckoning with 28 days experience, though I expect that someone is going to come up with a shuttle crew to beat it.If you're counting just missions, how about Apollo 10 with five previous flights between them (8 if one includes '10'). |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3469
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 02-29-2012 11:02 AM
Not counting the mission itself, STS-26 had 7 spaceflights between the five crew members. STS-114, which had seven astronauts, had 12 flights among the crew (two were making their first launch.)If you counted the mission itself, STS-26 would have 12 spaceflights among the five crew members and STS-114 19 flights. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-29-2012 11:05 AM
I was thinking more in terms of missions flown rather than days to determine the most experience. The number for the Apollo 8 crew would be 6 missions. The number for the Apollo 10 crew would be 8 missions - and so on. Yes I am counting the mission itself as in the Apollo 15 example above. |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 574
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-29-2012 11:21 AM
Well, the number of seats available on and the program duration of the shuttle skewed the records. For instance on STS-80, Story Musgrave alone had five previous flights. Adding in the other crew members and I see a total of 13 prior flights for a crew composed of only five members. I'm sure there are higher tallies for other flights.If you exclude the shuttle program however, I think Apollo 10 held the record. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-29-2012 11:35 AM
The highest number I have found so far is for the STS-82 HST crew at 22 missions. |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 574
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-29-2012 11:51 AM
Actually I think the tally was 15 previous missions for the STS-82 crew at the time of the launch. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-29-2012 11:54 AM
I am including the STS-82 flight in the count - see previous examples. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-29-2012 12:31 PM
The number for the STS-102 crew is 24 missions. |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 574
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-29-2012 02:23 PM
Of course you could also look at this in terms of the average flight experience per crew-member. That being a way to eliminate the bias caused by the varying size of the crews from Mercury thru the end of the Shuttle program. I would note that the STS-80 crew averaged 3.6 flights each versus the 3.4 value for STS-102. |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 574
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-29-2012 02:30 PM
Of course you could also look at this in terms of the average flight experience per crew-member. That being a way to eliminate the bias caused by the varying size of the crews from Mercury thru the end of the Shuttle program. I would note that the STS-80 crew averaged 3.6 flights each versus the 3.4 value for STS-102. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-29-2012 02:53 PM
Yes, that is way to look at the numbers on a level playing field if you are willing to do all the calculations. I suspect some of the Russian flights would figure more prominently if an average calculation were used. I think Soyuz TMA-3 works out to be 4.0 flights per crewmember, for example.My goal was a bit simpler. I was just wondering which crew had the most flights under their belt and what that number was. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2486
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 03-01-2012 02:22 AM
Tipping this on its head. Were there any flights, excluding solo missions, where the crew had no previous experience?As far as the US programme is concerned I can only come up with the Gemini flights of 4, 7, and 8. All the Apollo flights had at least one crew member with previous flight experience though Apollo 14 had just 15 minutes flight time when it was launched. No doubt someone can add the data for the Shuttle and Russian missions. |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 3080
From: Titusville, FL
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 03-01-2012 03:14 AM
Skylab III/4 - zero time, three rookies.One other little known fact. After Apollo 11 it wasn't until STS-26 that a mission flew with an all flight veteran crew. I'm sure someone here can name the time after that. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-01-2012 03:27 AM
Would that be the STS-31 Hubble deploy flight?I believe the last American all-rookie flight was STS-2 (Engle-Truly) in 1981. So that would also make it the only all-rookie shuttle flight. The last Russian all-rookie flight was Soyuz TMA-12 (Expedition 17) in 2008. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3469
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 03-01-2012 05:38 AM
Indeed, after STS-26 it was STS-31 with an all veteran crew. And if I have this right, it wasn't until (interestingly enough) the next Hubble flight that an all veteran crew flew - STS-61.And for ridiculous sake, after that it was STS-62; STS-76; STS-79; STS-80; STS-81; STS-82 and STS-94. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-01-2012 06:21 AM
The number for the STS-103 crew is 25 missions. |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1527
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 03-01-2012 10:21 PM
quote:
Originally posted by KSCartist:
Skylab III/4 - zero time, three rookies.
And also unusual about that crew is that none of the men ever flew in space again. Three rookies, no subsequent flights.
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-02-2012 06:46 AM
Good point. There are at least two Russian crews that did the same - Soyuz 15 (Sarafanov-Demin) and Soyuz 23 (Zudov-Rozhdestvensky) - both were all-rookie crews and all flew only once.There are several other all-rookie Russian crews where at least one of the cosmonaut crewmembers went on to fly more than one mission. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3469
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 03-02-2012 10:44 AM
quote:
Originally posted by ilbasso:
And also unusual about that crew is that none of the men ever flew in space again.
At the time the TFNGs were announced, Gibson was still listed as an active astronaut. Was he ever in the pipeline for a shuttle flight? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-02-2012 01:53 PM
Jerry Ross and Franklyn Chang-Diaz have both flown on 7 space shuttle missions. But they never flew on the same flight together. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3296
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 03-02-2012 09:55 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
I believe the last American all-rookie flight was STS-2 (Engle-Truly) in 1981.
Depends on how you count it - there were those who considered Engle to have made three suborbital X-15 flights before this, as the Air Force awarded astronaut wings to the X-15 pilots who made it above 50 miles. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-03-2012 05:57 AM
Perhaps Engle with an asterisk* to acknowledge the X-15 flights above 50 miles. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-04-2012 08:01 AM
There are 3 cosmonauts that have each accumulated more than 2 years in space:
- Krikalev - 803 days on 6 missions
- Kaleri - 770 days on 5 missions
- Avdeyev - 747 days on 3 missions
The closest American is Fincke - 381 days on 3 missions. That is just about a year less than Avdeyev. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 11-04-2014 08:12 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Davis:
Of course you could also look at this in terms of the average flight experience per crew-member.
The highest average number I have found so far is the Soyuz TMA-3 flight at 4.0 flights per crewmember: - Kaleri - 4th flight
- Foale - 6th flight
- Duque - 2nd flight
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Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1625
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 02-04-2015 11:22 PM
Does anyone know which shuttle crew had the most number of (cumulative) flights prior to the mission to which they were assigned?I'm guessing it would be a crew of seven with a few veterans at some point late in the program (simply to increase the numbers) but really have no idea. Editor's note: Threads merged. |
brianjbradley
Member Posts: 172
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted 02-05-2015 03:25 PM
From the top of my head, as I think this went back and forth on another message board I am part of, it's STS-103, where the crew members had 18 flights combined going into the mission.The non-rookie crew was: - Brown -- STS-47, 66, 77, 85, 95
- Smith -- STS-68, 82
- Clervoy -- STS-66, 84
- Foale -- STS-45, 55, 63, 84/MIR/86
- Nicollier -- STS-46, 61, 75
- Grunsfeld -- STS-67, 81
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-05-2015 05:11 PM
The six missions that Michael Foale flew on include STS-103 and Soyuz TMA-3. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-02-2015 11:14 AM
The recent Soyuz TMA-16M launch works out to an average of 3.6 flights per crewmember: - Padalka - 5th flight
- Korniyenko - 2nd flight
- Kelly - 4th flight
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Lewis007
Member Posts: 173
From: Geldermalsen, the Netherlands
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 04-05-2015 01:08 AM
Is the latest crew the oldest to have flown into space (Padalka being 56, Kornienko 54 and Kelly 51)? |
Robonaut
Member Posts: 259
From: Solihull, West Mids, England
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 04-05-2015 04:00 AM
The crew of Soyuz TMA-7 was older at launch on 1 October 2005. Valery Tokarev was 52 (and only four weeks short of his next birthday), Bill McArthur was 54 and Gregory Olsen was 60. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-26-2020 10:17 AM
Who has the record for the longest rookie flight? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52405
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-26-2020 10:38 AM
Christina Koch will be at 328 days on her first flight (assuming a landing on Feb. 6, 2020). |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-26-2020 10:43 AM
The highest one I have found is cosmonaut Musa Manarov at 365 days in 1988. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-27-2020 03:06 PM
The longest ISS mission to date was 340 days. There were three longer missions to the Mir space station: 437 days, 379 days and 365 days (the mission that rookie Manarov was on). So Koch's mission should be number 5 on the list.
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MSS
Member Posts: 1056
From: Europe
Registered: May 2003
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posted 01-27-2020 03:29 PM
Yes, but none of 437, 379 and 340 days missions were a rookie mission.Schedule duration Drew Morgan's mission is 271 days as a rookie mission. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-28-2020 10:39 PM
By my count, 271 days would be number 9 on the list of longest missions. |
MSS
Member Posts: 1056
From: Europe
Registered: May 2003
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posted 01-29-2020 06:59 PM
Yes, after five above mission durations next would be: 326, 311, 289 and 271 days as 9 place for Morgan.Tomorrow Christina Koch will take her the seventh place on the list of American space travelers with the most time in space. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3943
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 05-21-2024 07:08 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Davis:
I would note that the STS-80 crew averaged 3.6 flights each
I checked all the manned spaceflights. These are the highest numbers I have found: The STS-80 crew at 3.6 flights each is the highest average number for any U.S. spaceflight. The Soyuz TMA-3 crew at 4.0 flights each is the highest average number for any manned spaceflight (see earlier post).
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