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Astronaut Hammond thought it could be readied in a week.

Which brings me back to the point that you do not shave almost an entire month off of the launch prep without serious consequences.

The point of Hammond I think is that the essential functions of a launch can be checked through in a week - it's the particular, many and varied additional tasks associated with testing and loading experiements,cargo, etc. to suit the "customers" dominate the checklist. Of course to stow rescue equipment to the cargo bay, practice emergency procedures should take extra time, but many tasks can take place in parallel and some rescue items (rescue balls) can be loaded at launch time.

In summary, a basic launch with two crew, is an established procedure and barring equipemtn problems can go smoothly.

Also in this particular instance the Atlantis has been checked out thouroughly over previous concerns and is ready to fly soon.

PRE Rescue Ball NASA Johnson Personal Rescue Enclosure escape ball - suited astronaut would move it from shuttle to shuttle.

Other Designations: Personal Rescue Enclosure. Manufacturer's Designation: PRE. Class: Manned. Type: Bailout. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Manufacturer: NASA Johnson.

Before the Challenger disaster, shuttle crews wore no space suits. This presented the problem of how to move them from one shuttle to another - if - it was possible to launch a rescue mission before the supplies aboard the stranded shuttle ran out.

To address this problem, Johnson Spaceflight Center devised the most minimal spacecraft of all time - the Personal Rescue Enclosure (PRE) Rescue Ball. The rescue ball was an 86 cm diameter high-tech beach ball with three layers: urethane inner enclosure, Kevlar middle layer, and a white outer thermal protective cover. Crew members were to climb into the ball, assume a fetal position, and be zipped inside by a space suited crew member. They donned an oxygen mask and cradled in their arms a carbon dioxide scrubber/oxygen supply box with one hour worth of oxygen. The ball would be connected by an umbilical to the shuttle to supply air until the airlock depressurized. The crew member would then be floated over to the rescue shuttle by the suited astronaut. The process would be repeated until the entire crew was moved from one spacecraft to another.

A tiny window was provided to prevent total sensory deprivation. It is said that when they were in use, astronaut candidates would be asked to get in one. After fifteen minutes or so, the candidate was asked how long they thought they had been in. If the candidate was not hysterical and guessed anything under an hour, they passed! The space ball was much touted and appeared in all kinds of kids' books about the shuttle before the Challenger explosion. Little has been heard of it since...

Craft.Crew Size: 1. Total Length: 0.9 m. Maximum Diameter: 0.9 m. Total Habitable Volume: 0.33 m3.