Why Major Programs Need Innovation Support Labs: An Example from the Space Shuttle Launch Program at KSC

For over 30 years the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has processed the Space Shuttle; handling all hands-on aspects from receiving the Orbiter, External Tanks, Solid Rocket Booster Segments, and Payloads, through certification, check-out, and assembly, and ending with fueling, count-down, and launch. A team of thousands have worked this highly complicated, yet supremely organized, process and have, as a consequence, generated an exceptional amount of technology to solve a host of problems. This paper describes the contributions of one team that formed with the express purpose to help solve some of these diverse Shuttle ground processing problems. I. Introduction round processing of the Space Shuttle has occurred at the Kennedy Space Center for over 30 years. This activity has encompassed everything from safing an Orbiter just after landing to launching the completed stack from one of two launch pads. It includes demating an Orbiter from the 747 when it flies in from the west coast, moving External Tanks (ET) from barges to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and receiving Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) segments from rail cars. It includes detailed processing of an Orbiter in one of three Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPF) to return it to a safe launching configuration, and then within the VAB, stacking the SRB segments, hanging an ET from these SRBs, and finally forming a complete stack by adding the Orbiter; forming a complete Space Shuttle Vehicle. It includes maintenance and processing of launch pads, handling of cryogenic fuels and hypergols, and monitoring of thousands of sensors and cameras needed to ensure that all is well. Finally, it includes safely launching the vehicle.