From: mcmillan@vf.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: STS-47 "by the numbers"
Organization: NASA Johnson Space Center
Date: 28 Sep 92 16:08:33 -0600


Prior to STS-47, James Oberg, author of Red Star In Orbit and self-proclaimed
"space historian and trivialogist", wrote a good trivia memo that was       
distributed around JSC.  Although it is copyrighted, he said it could be 
referenced as long as he is recognized as the author.  It has such good facts
in it that I thought it worth sharing.  It's fairly long, so I'll retype it in
two installments.

This memo was done prior to STS-47, so the hours of that flight are not   
included in the hours of the memo.  I have left out a few parts, like those
relevant to us at JSC.


                   STS-47 "by the numbers"
                     by James Oberg

STS-47 is the world's 151st manned orbital mission.  It's the 49th orbital
mission of a US space shuttle, and the 50th manned STS launch (counting 51-L);
it is the 25th mission since Return-to Flight, and the 78th US manned orbital
flight overall; the USSR/CIS has made 73, plus two known launch aborts.  

With this Spacelab-J mission, 282 different humans had gone into orbit: 148
have flown once, 69 twice, 51 thrice, 12 four times, and 1 each five and six
times.  Of those 282, 176 (62%) have been US citizens, 74 (27%) were Soviets
or Russians, and 32 (11%) were "other", from 25 nations.  The "25" counts East
and West Germany as different nations, plus free Kazakhstan, as a sovereign
part of the USSR.  Pre-1992, "Soviets" were citizens of 3 now-sovereign 
republics:  Russia, Byelarus, and Ukraine, and so far, 4 men (2 rookies) have 
flown under Russia's flag ("Russia" does NOT count as a "new" nation different
form the USSR).  Thirteen people of ten nations have been guests aboard U. S.
shuttles; nineteen people from 18 nations have been guests on Soviet/Russian
missions.  Only Canada & Germany have had more than one individual aboard US
vehicles; only Bulgaria and France have had more than one individual on Soviet/
Russian vehicles;  France & Germany were the only countries to have had 
citizens aboard both US and Soviet/Russian spacecraft, and now Japan is third.

STS-47 is the 2nd flight of OV-105 Endeavour.  OV-103 Discovery has made 14,
and OV-102 Columbia and OV-104 Atlantis have both made twelve.  OV-099        
Challenger had nine orbital missions prior to the 51-L disaster (its 10th
flight).  This makes 152 different folks who have orbited on NASA shuttles:
120 were NASA astronauts, 31 were payload specialists, and one was an ESA MS.
They are 77 onces, 40 twices, 28 thrices, & 7 fourtimers.  They've used 269
"warm seats", or "tickets": 79 on Discovery, 67 on Atlantis, 56 on Columbia,
53 on Challenger, and 14 on Endeavour (there were seven more tickets on
Challenger for 51-L).

Counting each individual human-flight ("warm seat") as a single ticket, this
new flight will involve the 492nd to 598th "tickets to orbit".  The 338 
tickets on American orbital missions are held by 189 individuals, including 
17 women (one non-US); the 160 tickets on Soviet/Russian vehicles are held
by 93 individuals, including 3 women (one non-Soviet).

                      (Continued)
  






-- 

"It is not the critic who counts...the credit belongs to the man who is 
actually in the arena." -- Theodore Roosevelt 

Stokes McMillan -  	Flight Evaluation Office (VF3)  NASA JSC
			MCMILLAN@vf.jsc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle