(Congressman) What is sacrosanct about having a backup launch ready within 10 months from a go ahead decision. In fact, there might be no decision to go ahead and if there was a technical failure in the Skylab project, it would take a good deal longer before you would want to launch again, isn't that correct ? (NASA official answer) The ten month response time for the launch of a backup workshop was a planning decision based on the following considerations : 1. Ten months is considered the minimum response time for the backup launch and, as such, has been designated for planning as the decision/launch interval ; 2. From an economic standpoint, a minimum preparation time for a backup launch eliminates the costly manpower phase-down-rehiring-retraining- buildup cycle and/or long-term sustaining effort costs. 3. The current ten month planning interval schedules EREP experiment data collection during the optimum growing season time period. The actual time interval between decision and launch would depend on the type of failure experienced. In the case of a clear-cut, easily identifiable cause for failure, e.g, launch vehicle anomaly, it is feasible to plan for the backup launch within ten months of the decision date.orA failure in the Workshop after launch could result in a far longer delay of launch.