• Question: how many people does it take to work a space craft???????

    Asked by jaamazing to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      They can actually work on their own, which is what happens most of the time.

      However, a lot of spacecraft require a big team of operators on the ground to tell them what to do, check they’re working ok and try to fix any problems if they come up.

      If you mean manned spacecraft, it only takes one really, depending on which ship it is. The first spacecraft, Mercury (US) and Vostok (Russia) only had one man in, but they didn’t actually do very much. The Mercury capsules could actually be piloted by the people in them, but didn’t need to be, it only happened if there was a problem.

      However, things like the shuttle require a few people to operate. They need a pilot and a commander. The people in back tend not to do much (but they might do eventually when they need the robotic arm for example).

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I wouldn’t like to go up in a spacecraft all on my own, even if there were loads of people back on the ground. Have you ever tried describing where you are to someone over the phone? Imagine trying to do that in space where there are no road signs!

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      I think a lot – not many necessarilly in the space craft (or none a lot of the time) but there are tons of people involved in building it and designing it and making sure it works correctly.

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      Only a few on-board, but you need hundreds on the ground, and thousands to build the parts for the space-craft in the first place.

      The Russians built a space shuttle called Buran which they could send up into orbit and bring it back down, all by remote control.

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