As of January 10, 2014, there have been 144 launch attempts for ISS (74 crewed), with one outright cargo launch failure, over 15+ years by seven different launch vehicles, from five different launch ranges in four different countries, if my addition is right! Since the first ISS launch, the station has accounted for 13.45% of all orbital launch attempts, world-wide.
- Ed Kyle
I think your count is right - at least i got also 144 launch attempts:
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sat/iss.htm
I wonder if the Russians don't have the right ops with self docking Progresses and ATV and four equal docking ports. They seem to hold the crew for much less time and give them great flexibility and redundancy. Besides, the payload difference doesn't seems to be that much. I wonder how much use of the 1.5m square vs .8m round passage really matters that much.
You will probably always want to berth cargo ships and dock crewed ships.
The 1.5 meter CBM hatch is really significant for moving cargo into the station (compared with the probe and cone's 800 mm hatch, but I don't know if crewed ships will use CBM type hatches in the future.
BTW, the Russians do have the capability of using an 1.1 meter hatch for cargo transfer, but they have elected not to.
1)has iss traffic ever been this busy?
I think that the busiest prior year was 2009 with 14 launches to ISS. There were also 14 attempts in 2011, but one (a Progress) failed to reach orbit. There were eight unmanned flights in both 2012 and 2013. Crewed flights numbered eight in both 2001 and 2009. The crewed flight numbers are unlikely to be matched for awhile, if ever.
As of January 10, 2014, there have been 144 launch attempts for ISS (74 crewed), with one outright cargo launch failure, over 15+ years by seven different launch vehicles, from five different launch ranges in four different countries, if my addition is right! Since the first ISS launch, the station has accounted for 13.45% of all orbital launch attempts, world-wide.
- Ed Kyle
And that's a relatively modest outpost, very near, with six guys on board full time.
Gives perspective as to what kind of cargo mass you need to even start thinking of getting a viable colony started on Moon or Mars.
I'm not sure where to put this, if there is a mission ORB-CRS-1 general discussion thread, please move this post there.
Wow, they got it open within hours. Amazing work by InfraNut2 with the coverage, really appreciated!
Yes, think the guys are primed for a quick turnaround.
Just out of interest, I know that SpX-CRS-3 is scheduled for late February and there is a Russian vehicle expected soon. What is the expected turn-around time for this Cygnus visit?
I wonder if the Russians don't have the right ops with self docking Progresses and ATV and four equal docking ports. They seem to hold the crew for much less time and give them great flexibility and redundancy. Besides, the payload difference doesn't seems to be that much. I wonder how much use of the 1.5m square vs .8m round passage really matters that much.
You will probably always want to berth cargo ships and dock crewed ships.
The 1.5 meter CBM hatch is really significant for moving cargo into the station (compared with the probe and cone's 800 mm hatch, but I don't know if crewed ships will use CBM type hatches in the future.
BTW, the Russians do have the capability of using an 1.1 meter hatch for cargo transfer, but they have elected not to.
Wasn't it because APAS is heavier and the Russians didn't want to take the payload hit?