Paper Session IV-B - Payload Processing Study For ELV Launches

A NASA-KSC study on payload ground processing activities in support of Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) launches at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from January 1977 through February 1988, showed that nearly half of the payloads experienced schedule delays. While about 10 per cent of the delays were weather-related, over 65 per cent were caused by payload/launch vehicle problems. The planned processing time was exceeded by more than 2 weeks in most cases. Nearly 30 per cent of the payloads required some storage time