Pad Safety Personnel Launch Support For STS-200

The launch of a space shuttle is a complex and lengthy procedure. There are many places and components to look at and prepare. The components are the orbiter, solid rocket boosters, external tank, and ground equipment. Some of the places are the launch pad, fuel locations, and surrounding structures. Preparations for a launch include equipment checks, system checks, sniff checks for hazardous commodities, and countless walkdowns. Throughout these preparations, pad safety personnel must always be on call. This requires three shifts of multiple people to be ready when needed. Also, the pad safety personnel must be available for the non-launch tasks that are always present for both launch pads