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Real-time support work is done on an around-the-clock shift basis, with any given shift limited, in general, to 9 hours. Such work also extends through weekends and holidays during flights.

c. Summary of the Data - Workload

Figure 13 is a plot of the total manpower (EP's) dedicated to support of each specific flight. This support includes both preflight planning and real-time activities. The trend appears to be toward a steady state in the range of 250 to 400 EP's. The reasons for the variations within this range were not examined; however, it is known that differences in mission complexity and time available for preparation are significant factors. It is clear from the figure that most people took leave over the 1984-1985 Christmas holiday season.

Figure 14 illustrates that roughly 40 percent of the total work performed was associated with a specific mission. This percentage includes both real-time and preflight work.

The time spent per week in the Mission Control Center participating in simulations of flights with the crews ("integrated simulations") is shown in table 1. This training can be either flight-specific or generic in nature. The times shown apply only to the time spent during which the training actively occurred and does not account for "down" time (i.e., time when the simulator is inactive). Note that the data are broken down according to teams and that there were only three weekends in 1985 in which integrated simulations occurred. Time spent at work during missions is not covered in this chart, however.

The amount of time spent in real-time support of a specific flight was on the average of 8 to 10 percent of the total time worked.

For the amount of overtime spent as a percentage of the total hours worked, a band of 4 to 8 percent seems to represent the norm (fig. 15). No reason for the variation within this band is known. Each work area was plotted, and the overtime varied from as low as 1 percent to as high as 14 percent in particular cases, with 4 to 8 percent the average.

The percentage of hours of leave taken to the total hours worked fluctuates from 5 to 12 percent (fig. 16). The higher percentages at Christmas and summer vacation are as expected.

The overtime spent by the contractor personnel in the Mission Control Center facility operations area averaged 4.3 percent in 1985.

Overtime for the contractor personnel in the Shuttle Mission Sumulator facility operations areas averaged 6.2 percent in 1985.


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