Behind the scenes

Abstract

The visible element of any mission into space is the hardware sent on the journey and, for a human mission, the astronauts assigned to undertake the objectives. With the public interest in the Hubble service missions, the six shuttle crews became some of the most recognized out of the 135 missions. Certainly their public outreach program, both before and after their flights, was an opportunity to spread the word on their experiences and achievements at the telescope, but as with all space missions there was also a large team on the ground, many of whom were not so well known to the public, without whom the mission wouldn’t have been able to be flown. If a space mission is compared to an iceberg floating in the ocean, then the flight crew represents the tip which protrudes above water, while the numerous teams on the ground are the bulk that remains underwater and hidden from view.

I do not consider any one position on the very large team of people that plan and execute HST service missions as more ‘important’ than any other. Period! The system works because ALL of the parts are ‘important’, and the system can potentially fail because of the loss of any of the parts to perform their function.

Chuck Shaw , Shuttle Flight Director, Mission Director SM-4