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File Description:
Skylab 2
25 May 1973 13:00 GMT. Duration: 28.03 days. Call Sign: Skylab. Backup
Crew: McCandless, Musgrave, Schweickart. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA.
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC39B. Launch Vehicle:
Saturn IB . LV Configuration: Saturn IB s/n SA-206. Program: Skylab.
Class: Manned. Type: Lunar spacecraft. Spacecraft: Apollo CSM. Payload
: Apollo CSM 116. Mass: 19,979 kg. Location of Spacecraft: Naval
Aviation Museum, Pensacola, FL. Perigee: 427 km. Apogee: 439 km.
Inclination: 50.0 deg. Period: 93.2 min.
Epic repair mission which brought Skylab into working order. Included
such great moments as Conrad being flung through space by the whiplash
after heaving on the solar wing just as the debris constraining it
gave way; deployment of a lightweight solar shield, developed in
Houston in one week, which brought the temperatures down to tolerable
levels. With this flight US again took manned spaceflight duration
record.
When the meteoroid shield ripped loose, it disturbed the mounting of
workshop solar array "wing" two and caused it to partially deploy.
The exhaust plume of the second stage retro-rockets impacted the
partially deployed solar array and literally blew it into space.
Also, a strap of debris from the meteoroid shield overlapped solar
array "wing" number one such that when the programmed deployment
signal occurred, wing number one was held in a slightly opened
position where it was able to generate virtually no power.
In the meantime, the space station had achieved a near-circular orbit
at the desired altitude of 435 kilometers (270 miles). All other
major functions including payload shroud jettison, deployment of the
Apollo Telescope Mount (Skylab's solar observatory) and its solar
arrays, and pressurization of the space station occurred as planned.
Scientists, engineers, astronauts, and management personnel at the
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and elsewhere worked throughout
the first ten-day period of Skylab's flight to devise the means for
its rescue. Simultaneously, Skylab--seriously overheating--was
maneuvered through varying nose-up attitudes that would best maintain
an acceptable "holding" condition. Because of the loss of the
meteoroid shield, however, this positioning caused workshop
temperatures to rise to 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees F). During
that ten-day period and for some time thereafter, the space station
operated on less than half of its designed electrical system, in the
partially nose-up attitudes, was generating power at reduced
efficiency. The optimum condition that maintained the most favorable
balance between Skylab temperatures and its power generation
capability occurred at approximately 50 degrees nose-up.
The crew rendezvoused with Skylab on the fifth orbit. After making
substantial repairs, including deployment of a parasol sunshade which
cooled the inside temperatures to 23.8 degrees C (75 degrees F), by
June 4 the workshop was in full operation. In orbit the crew conducted
solar astronomy and Earth resources experiments, medical studies, and
five student experiments; 404 orbits and 392 experiment hours were
completed; three EVAs totalled six hours, 20 minutes.
Skylab 3
28 July 1973 11:10 GMT. Duration: 59.46 days. Call Sign: Skylab.
Backup Crew: Brand, Lenoir, Lind. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Launch
Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC39B. Launch Vehicle: Saturn
IB . LV Configuration: Saturn IB s/n SA-207. Program: Skylab. Class:
Manned. Type: Lunar spacecraft. Spacecraft: Apollo CSM. Payload:
Apollo CSM 117. Mass: 20,121 kg. Location of Spacecraft: NASA Lewis
Research Center, Cleveland, OH. Perigee: 422 km. Apogee: 442 km.
Inclination: 50.0 deg. Period: 93.2 min.
Continued maintenance of the Skylab space station and extensive
scientific and medical experiments. Installed twinpole solar shield
on EVA; performed major inflight maintenance; doubled record for
length of time in space. Completed 858 Earth orbits and 1,081 hours
of solar and Earth experiments; three EVAs totalled 13 hours, 43
minutes.
Skylab4
16 November 1973 14:01 GMT. Duration: 84.05 days. Call Sign: Skylab.
Backup Crew: Brand, Lenoir, Lind. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Launch
Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC39B. Launch Vehicle: Saturn
IB . LV Configuration: Saturn IB s/n SA-208. Program: Skylab. Class:
Manned. Type: Lunar spacecraft. Spacecraft: Apollo CSM. Payload:
Apollo CSM 118. Mass: 20,847 kg. Location of Spacecraft: National Air
and Space Museum (Smithsonian Institution), Washington, DC. Perigee:
422 km. Apogee: 437 km. Inclination: 50.0 deg. Period: 93.1 min.
Included observation and photography of Comet Kohoutek among numerous
experiments. Completed 1,214 Earth orbits and four EVAs totalling 22
hours, 13 minutes. Increased manned space flight time record by 50%.
Rebellion by crew against NASA Ground Control overtasking led to none
of the crew ever flying again.
| Filename: |
skylab_mission.zip |
| License: |
Freeware |
| Added: |
11th January 2003, 16:39:14 |
| Downloads: |
1934 |
| Author: |
Ronald Dandurand |
| Size: |
6kb |
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