scope:

Abstract:

The magnitude of both the real-time cruise activities and the work required to perform advanced planning for future activities, such as encounter, landing site certification, test and training, and orbit insertion activities during the Viking mission were significantly underestimated and required an unplanned organizational change during the cruise operations. When spacecraft mission encounter and post-encounter planning are not completed prior to launch, separate organizations should be established for conducting the cruise activities and accomplishing the encounter planning.