May 14 1973
From The Space Library
Unsolicited cash contributions to NASA from persons in the U.S. and foreign countries since 1959 would be used to finance the 19 student scientific experiments on Skylab[see Jan. 26], NASA announced. The $5548 fund included individual gifts ranging from $1500 to the $0.35 contribution of an eight-year-old boy sent in 1970 because he had heard that NASA "didn't have enough money." A retired Navy chief petty officer had sent one day's pay after each manned flight in memory of his son who had been killed in the Korean war. A naturalized citizen from Eastern Europe had sent $100 in 1964 because he wished to be a part of the space program that would mean the survival of a free U.S. (NASA Release 73-98)
Man's ability to survive in space was discussed in New York Times and Washington Post articles. Of 33 astronauts who had made Apollo flights, 11 had suffered from motion sickness for the first few days in space. Apollo 13 (April 11-17, 1970), the aborted moon landing mission, had indicated that men in danger would have a tough time surviving in space. Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr., had lost 6 kg (14 lbs) during the six-day mission. John L. Swigert, Jr., had been so overcome by fatigue near the end of the flight that he made several errors in checking reentry procedures. Fatigue might also have contributed to the deaths of the Soviet Soyuz 11 (June 6-30, 1971) cosmonauts.
Calcium loss in weightlessness, the most serious of potential medical problems, could lead to thinning of the bones and subsequent bone breaks after long periods in space. Other health problems included increased heart rates, weight loss, decreased oxygen consumption, reduced blood pressure, and the reduced flow of blood to the brain and kidneys.
Psychological effects, as well as these problems, would be studied on Skylab missions. Were windows necessary? Should doors be door-shaped or would circular holes be sufficient? Would the crew tolerate sleeping upright in sleeping bags attached to the walls? (Schmeck, NYT, 5/14/73, 24; O'Toole, W Post, 5/14/73, A12)
President Nixon signed Executive Order 11718 designating the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) as an international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities. (PD, 5/21/73, 673-4)
President Nixon announced the appointment of the National Science Foundation Director, Dr. H. Guyford Stever, as Acting Chairman of the Federal Council for Science and Technology. (PD, 5/21/73, 681)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that municipalities could not enact local curfews on jet flights at their airports to control noise. Justice William O. Douglas said in the majority opinion: "We are not at liberty to diffuse the powers given by Congress to F.A.A. [the Federal Aviation Administration] and E.P.A. [the Environmental Protection Agency] by letting the states or municipalities in on the planning." (NYT, 5/15/73, 11)
An account of the successful Apollo program was part of an Air Force "cram" course in recent U.S. history being given to returned U.S. prisoners of war at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., the Detroit News reported. (Fleming, D News, 5/15/73, 25)
May 14-June 22: The Skylab 1 Orbital Workshop and-11 days later-the Skylab 2 Apollo spacecraft carrying a three-man crew were launched into near-earth orbit to establish the first U.S. manned orbital laboratory, in the four-mission Skylab program. Skylab 1's meteoroid shield was torn off and the solar array system damaged during launch, cutting power and raising temperature to threaten the mission, although the spacecraft achieved satisfactory orbit. Skylab 2, scheduled for May 15 launch, was delayed while damage was assessed and the flight plan modified. On May 25, Skylab 2 carried three astronauts to rendezvous and dock with the earth-orbiting Workshop. The crew boarded the Workshop, repaired spacecraft damage, and conducted medical experiments and studies in solar astronomy and earth resources for a record 28 days before undocking for a safe return to earth June 22.
May 14-24: Skylab 1 (SL-1) was launched on time at 1:30 PM EDT from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39, Pad A, by a two-stage Saturn V launch vehicle after, a nominal countdown. Liftoff was witnessed by U.S. and foreign TV viewers and by an estimated 500 000 persons at KSC, including U.S. and foreign dignitaries and 26 former prisoners of war invited by NASA. The Skylab 2 crew-Astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr. (commander), Paul J. Weitz (pilot), and Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin (science pilot) -watched the launch from quarantine.
Skylab's Saturn Workshop (SWS) cluster launched toward earth orbit included the Orbital Workshop (OWS) with its Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), airlock module (AM), multiple docking adapter (MDA), and instrument unit (IU).
At 63 sec into the mission, indication was received that the meteoroid shield had deployed prematurely. The Workshop was placed in nominal, circular orbit with 435.2-km (272.2-mi) altitude, 93-min period, 50ø inclination, and 7649.4-m-per-sec (25 096.6-fps) orbital velocity. The payload shroud was jettisoned on time at 15 min and 25 sec after launch and the ATM deployed at 21 min 34 sec with normal deployment of the ATM solar arrays at 26 min 38 sec, but ground controllers received no indication that the Workshop solar array system (SAS), which was to have been released by an onboard computer, had been deployed.
At 41 min, a ground command was sent to deploy the two SAS wings. They did not respond. The command was sent again 30 min later and a third time near the end of the first orbit, without result. During the first postlaunch press briefing, Director of Launch Operations Walter J. Kapryan said that if the arrays did not deploy "the mission will be seriously degraded." The crew was not set up to perform a fix-it-yourself extravehicular activity (EVA) and there were no controls for deployment inside the Workshop. Anxious officials and flight controllers began analyzing radioed launch data. Analysis and later inspection revealed that the meteoroid shield had been torn off by vibration of the vehicle just after passing through mach 1 speed, near the time of highest dynamic pressure. Some early measurements indicated that the shield separation straps were still satisfactory, but later measurements indicated failure. The failure had released the securing mechanism on SAS Wing 2 and the wing ripped off. A piece of shield had wrapped around SAS Wing 1 and kept it from deploying. Loss of the wings, which were to provide power to the Workshop, reduced power to 50% of its average 8000-w output; the remaining 50% would be supplied by the four ATM solar panels.
At 11:00 PM EDT Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider announced the Skylab 2 launch had been rescheduled to May 20 to allow assessment of damage and development of a new flight plan to maximize scientific return from Skylab's experiments with limited power. Fuel cells of the Skylab 2 command and service module (CSM) would be used to produce electricity, after joining the Workshop, but the CSM oxygen and hydrogen for the cells would last only 16 to 21 days. It was too early to assess the effect on Skylab 3 and 4 missions, planned for 56 days each.
On May 15 Skylab faced a new threat as temperatures inside the Workshop reached above 311 K (100øF). The lost meteoroid shield had also been designed to reflect sunlight and help cool the Workshop. "We think we can live with the electrical power shortage," Schneider said, "but if we can't solve this thermal problem we have a serious situation." Schneider feared foods and film might be spoiled, plastic parts might begin to leak poisonous gases, and the laboratory might become un-inhabitable.
The entire Skylab team was mobilized-at Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Martin Marietta Corp., McDonnell Douglas Corp., TRW Inc., and Garrett AiResearch Co.-in an all-out attempt to overcome the loss of the shield and solar arrays. Schneider said NASA was studying the possibility of the Skylab 2 astronauts' putting "some kind of a thermal blanket around the spacecraft," but that would require a delay of the Skylab 2 launch beyond May 20. Astronauts would also inspect the solar wings, but whether they could make repairs was uncertain.
The Skylab 2 crew returned to JSC May 15 to help flight planners salvage the mission. Special attitude maneuvers were run to obtain temperature data on the Skylab cluster and to limit Workshop temperatures, as internal temperature soared as high as 325 K (125øF). Temperature was reduced by pitching the Workshop with the longitudinal axis pointed at the sun for one orbit and, on May 16, the Workshop was tilted 55ø away from the sun, with sufficient sunlight on the working solar panels to charge the batteries but moving the space station out of the sun's full glare.
Teams continued to compute options to overcome the loss of the shield: astronauts could spray-paint Skylab I's side to alter radiation properties of the gold foil coating the Workshop shell, could wallpaper the critical area, or could deploy a solar sunshade. Choice of the third option was announced May 16. The astronauts were trained in three possible methods of deploying the sunshade and in procedures to deploy the jammed solar panel. If they failed with the panel, a near-normal 16- to 21-day mission could still be realized by using the CSM power and curtailing some experiments. After that experiments would have to be severely cut back to reserve power for the CSM's trip home.
On May 17 NASA announced postponement of the Skylab 2 launch until May 25 to allow the astronauts to practice techniques for deploying the sunshade and mission engineers to design, fabricate, and test hard-ware. Astronauts Conrad, Kerwin, and Weitz flew to MSFC to practice installing the sun shield in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator.
On May 20 the Workshop was purged of any gases from the over-heated insulation material and turned slightly to allow the sun to warm the airlock module and prevent water stored there from freezing and causing breakage. Components of the astronauts' repair kit were shipped to MSFC for final testing before being installed in Skylab 2's Apollo CSM.
On May 22 the Skylab 2 astronaut crew flew to KSC to prepare for the May 25 launch. Three thermal shields were decided on at a May 23 review: a parasol deployable from the Workshop through the solar scientific airlock, a backup twin-pole shield deployable by the crew during EVA, and a standup-EVA (SEVA) sail deployable by the crew from the CSM if both other methods failed.
The Skylab 2 countdown resumed at 5:30 am EDT May 23 at KSC. It had been halted eight hours after Skylab 1 liftoff May 14. On May 24 the three emergency sunshades and necessary tools were stored in the CM. Significant experiments-SO15, effects of zero g on single human cells; 5020, x-ray/solar photography; T025, coronagraph contamination measurements; M555, gallium arsenide crystal growth; equipment for S063, ultraviolet (uv) airglow horizon photography; and spare equipment for TV coverage of the ATM EvA-were removed to accommodate the additional 180 kg (400 lbs) of equipment. The crew would also carry an extra medical kit to replace medicines spoiled by high temperatures in Skylab 1. Lightning struck the Skylab 2 mobile service structure at 5:24 pm EDT May 24, but retests of the vehicle indicated no damage.
At a May 24 press conference Program Director Schneider said there would be limited activity by the crew to deploy the partially opened solar panel. "We're not too optimistic that we'll be able to do too much, although we will give Capt. Conrad the option to try it if it looks like a reasonable job." NASA was "very confident that ... we will be able to deploy a [thermal] shield, we will get the spacecraft temperatures back under control, and we will have a good 28-day mission."
May 25: Skylab 2 (SL-2) was launched from KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad B, on a two-stage Saturn IB launch vehicle into heavy dark clouds on time at 9:00 am EDT. As Astronauts Conrad, Kerwin, and Weitz headed toward the Skylab 1 Workshop they were to attempt to repair in orbit and man for 28 days, Commander Conrad told Mission Control, "We fix anything."
The CSM/S-IVB combination was placed in a phasing orbit with 224-km (139.2-mi) apogee and 150-km (93.2-mi) perigee 9 min 56 sec after launch. Six minutes later the CSM separated. The S-IVB stage deorbit maneuver was performed at 2:23 PM EDT and the stage splashed into the Pacific Ocean.
The CSM rendezvoused with the Workshop at 4:30 pm EDT over the Guam tracking station on the fifth orbit. During 15 min of TV coverage the CSM flew around the Workshop, within 1.5 m (5 ft) of it. The astronauts confirmed that the SAS Wing 2 was missing and that the SAS Wing 1, deployed only 15°, was restrained by a piece of the micro-meteoroid shield wrapped around the SAS beam fairing. Portions of the gold foil laminated to the Workshop skin for thermal protection had been torn and heat and uv radiation from the sun had scorched the skin.
The astronauts soft-docked the CSM with the Workshop, using only three capture latches; ate dinner; and undocked to attempt to deploy the jammed solar panel. Weitz stood in the open hatch of the CSM with Kerwin holding his knees to keep him from drifting into space. He tried to free the solar panel with a shepherd's crook and a pole with pruning shears attached without success. Conrad told Mission Control that the panel appeared to be "hooked in there like it's nailed on." The repair attempt was ended at 8:12 pm EDT.
The crew made four unsuccessful attempts to redock with the Work-shop. Working in bulky spacesuits and gloves, the astronauts evacuated the air from the Apollo cabin and hooked up an electric cable to over-ride a suspected short in the docking probe. "Yea. We got a hard dock out of it [a docking using all 12 sealing latches to seal the two space-craft together]," Conrad said at 11:50 PM EDT. The crew found one of the capture latches had stuck in the retracted position, but trouble-shooting procedures recommended by Mission Control restored the latch.
May 26-June 21: The Skylab 2 crew entered the multiple docking adapter on the Skylab Workshop at 12:45 Pro EDT May 26 and per-formed activation and Workshop preentry tasks. A chemical detection device inserted into the passage indicated no lethal gas was present. At 2:30 pm EDT Astronaut Weitz entered the Workshop wearing a gas mask, gloves, and soft shoes to protect him from the heat. Weitz told ground control, "The OWS appears to be in good shape. It feels a little bit warm as you might expect, like 90 to 100 degrees [F 305 to 310 K] in the desert. I felt heat radiating from everywhere but I never felt uncomfortable. And nothing I touched felt hot to me. It's a dry heat." Kerwin and Conrad followed Weitz. After a quick inspection, the crew closed the hatch.
At 4:30 PM EDT the crew began to deploy the solar parasol-a mylar shade folded against a telescopic pole-through the solar airlock. As they readied the parasol, the astronauts looked out of the windows and identified landmarks across the U.S. Weitz recognized Seattle, Wash., and Conrad spotted both launch pads used for the Skylab launches at KSC.
Conrad and Weitz popped open the shiny aluminum and orange canopy at 8:30 pm EDT May 26 (Mission Day 2) while Kerwin took TV photos from the attached Apollo cm. Significant external temperature decreases were noted almost immediately after deployment. Internal temperatures decreased more slowly. The Workshop was headed back to solar inertial attitude.
By May 27 the Workshop temperature had dropped to 309 K (97øF). The crew activated systems and experiments while their back-and-forth excursions through the Workshop were televised to the earth. The Washington Post later said they resembled "skin divers snorkeling through a cave in the Caribbean" or a scene from the film "2001" with astronauts "in orange flight suits and white T-shirts swimming like fish through the big workshop, floating backwards and tumbling like gymnasts."
On May 28 the astronauts `began the first medical tests, taking and processing blood samples and checking the conditions of their circulatory and metabolic systems. Checkout and preparation of the (ATM) was begun. During a seven-minute televised space-to-ground news conference beginning at 1:09 pm EDT, Conrad said the crew had adapted rapidly. "None of us has had any motion sickness.... It seems to be like the simulator except with the absence of gravity." Kerwin concluded that the brain and eyes must override the body's vestibule system in the inner ear. "You say to your brain, `Brain, I want that way to be up.' And your brain says, `OK, then that way is up.' . . . Your brain will follow you." Conrad agreed, "We're in good shape for 28 days."
Dr. Willard R. Hawkins, JSC Deputy Director of Life Sciences for Medical Operations, said later in the mission that it was "rather amazing' that the crew had shown no signs of the expected motion sickness. Data received were preliminary, but prelaunch exercises in a whirling chair might have helped avoid nausea.
Temperatures continued to drop slowly, reaching 304 K (88°F). At 8:50 pm EDT a 69-sec trim burn put the Workshop into a repeating ground track about 96 km (60 mi) west of normal, to acquire earth resources data.
On May 29 checkout of the ATM was completed and four passes were made. Kerwin trained an array of telescopes to observe x-ray emissions and examine the structure of the sun's atmosphere. He photographed three regions of the sun considered active by solar physicists and made detailed observations of the full solar disk and the corona. Conrad and Weitz prepared the earth-oriented cameras for earth resources experiment package (EREP) passes. Two biomedical runs were made. During a private conversation with JSC, Conrad reported that the internal temperature had stabilized near 304 K (88°F) and that, while this would be tolerable for the rest of the mission, he did not think the crew could carry out the full protocol on the bicycle ergometer (exercise device).
On May 30 the solar telescopes were aimed at the active regions of the sun while scientists on the earth received excellent TV photos of the solar corona and the solar disk in the uv spectrum. The first EREP photo pass was made over a 3200-km (2000-mi) strip from Oregon to the Gulf of Mexico. Good pictures were obtained of the Great Salt Lake, gypsum beds in New Mexico, and the soil salinity of the Rio Grande Valley, as well as microwave measurements of the Gulf of Mexico.
After the EREP pass, the batteries-at a reduced level of 45% to 50% capacity-tripped off line and ceased to produce electricity. They had been designed to trip off at 20% capacity. One battery also lost the regulator that allowed the solar panel to recharge it, decreasing the total Workshop power by 6%, or 250 w, leaving 4200 w. The Workshop required 3600 w for maintenance, leaving only 600 w for experiments. The second EREP pass was canceled for a power evaluation. Sixteen batteries were brought back on line but two remained off line and were useless. Heat, fans, and lights were powered down.
Workshop power continued reduced May 31 and EREP experiments were canceled. The crew continued medical experiments, each taking a turn in a rotating chair to provide data on motion sickness and maintain-ing balance in zero g. Weitz repaired the mirror system on the UV stellar photography experiment. Temperatures had dropped to 301 K (82øF).
The Skylab astronauts took their first day off June 1 (Mission Day 8) and their first shower in space. On a 15-min color telecast they per-formed housekeeping chores and-to the music from the film "2001"-did handstands, somersaults, and cartwheels in the zero-g atmosphere. Conrad led the crew in run around the watertanks. Centrifugal force overcame weightlessness, so the men could keep their feet on the track. On the ground Skylab officials announced the decision to make a second attempt to free the jammed solar panel, while engineers and the backup astronauts, led by Russell L. Schweickart, tested EVA procedures.
On June 2, Conrad and Weitz made a 10-min EREP photo pass from California to Central Mexico to gather data on earthquakes, volcanoes, pollution sources, mineral resources, and land-use patterns. On the ground Schweickart successfully tested three ways of freeing the jammed solar panel using a bolt cutter, a prying rod, and a surgeon's bone saw. The astronauts completed the third EREP pass over North America and the fifth ATM pass on June 3. The nuclear emulsion experiment, the transuranic cosmic ray detector, and the neutron analysis detector were deployed.
Astronaut Conrad set a new world record for time in space at 1:17 am EDT, surpassing the 715-hr 5-min mark set by Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr. The first ball game in space was held in the Workshop. Conrad said a ball thrown in weightlessness "goes straight as an arrow."
The fourth EREP pass was made June 4, as well as five hours of ATM solar viewing. Dr. John Zeiglschmid, Skylab Flight Surgeon, told a JSC press briefing that the physical condition of the Skylab crew was excellent. They were consuming the proper amount of food and getting adequate rest. Conrad and Kerwin had lost only 0.5 kg (1 lb) ; Weitz had lost 1.8 kg (4 lbs). Top Skylab officials at MSFC agreed that solar wing deployment techniques developed by Astronaut Schweickart were feasible, without unusual safety hazards.
On June 6 preparations were made for the next day's EVA. Conrad said, "I guess we have a fifty-fifty chance of pulling it off." The 16 Workshop batteries were producing 4200 w-only 600 w more than the minimum necessary for the astronauts' survival. One battery was down to half charge and others were believed to have been damaged by the heat. The astronauts photographed hurricane Ava during an EREP pass, made an ATM pass, and photographed uv spectra of stars.
Conrad and Kerwin opened the AM EVA hatch at 11:23 am EDT June 7 and extended their umbilicals and a rigged-up 7:6-m (25-ft) pole fitted with cutters for releasing the jammed solar wing, as Weitz took TV photos from the Skylab and the CSM. Outside Kerwin had difficulty keeping a firm footing, with only makeshift handholds and foot restraints, as he secured the end of the pole to antenna mount. His heart rate rose to 150 beats per minute and he was burning energy at 2000 to 2500 BTUs an hour. Finally he extended the pole to the beam holding the wing and-with Conrad repeatedly telling him to "take it easy" and "cool it"-managed after several tries to fit the cutters around the small bolt that restrained the wing. Conrad moved hand over hand along the pole to the wing. Tangling of the 10.6- and 18.3-m (35- and 60-ft) flexible umbilicals linking the astronauts to spacecraft life sup-port systems complicated their movements.
Kerwin pulled a lanyard to snap the cutters and sever the bolt and then extended the wing using a rope attached to the upper surface. Conrad pulled a rope to break a frozen actuator. Two of the sections making up the wing were 40% deployed and the other about 30%.
The two astronauts also changed a film magazine in a telescope camera and latched open a balky door on an x-ray telescope before reentering the Workshop and closing the AM EVA hatch at 2-53 PM EDT, concluding 3 hrs 30 min successful EVA.
The Workshop was pitched up to expose the panels to more direct sunlight and unfreeze the hydraulic system that deployed them. After a few hours one section was 90% deployed, another 40%, and the third 29%. By the next day the sections were fully deployed. Additional electric power of 3000 w was obtained and all eight batteries supplied by the solar panels were charged and in good working order-paving the way for a full Skylab mission.
From Mission Control Schweickart said, "Everybody's shaking hands down here and we just wish we could reach up and shake yours." President Nixon sent a message: "On behalf of the American people I congratulate and commend you and your crew on your successful effort to repair the world's first true space station. In the two weeks since you left earth, you have more than fulfilled the prophecy of your parting words, `We can fix anything.' All of us now have new courage that man can work in space to control his environment, improve his circumstances and exert his will even as he does on earth." On June 12 the ninth EREP pass was made. Weitz said he could see pollution flowing into Lake Erie and he couldn't find Washington, D.C., because of haze. Conrad melted an aluminum alloy to study the behavior of molten metal in weightlessness and used an electron beam for welding inside a small vacuum chamber.
On June 13 Dr. Hawkins told a JSC medical review that Kerwin and Weitz were no longer able to perform at preflight levels on the bicycle ergometer, indicating their cardiovascular systems had been weakened by weightlessness. The condition was not at dangerous levels and was not interfering with their normal day-to-day performance.
Weitz photographed a massive explosion on the sun with the ATM solar telescopes June 15. The flare had erupted from the center of the sun's side facing the earth and covered an area 40 200 km (25 000 mi) wide. Conrad checked out the Apollo CSM for the return trip to earth, while Kerwin initiated the growth of bacteria in a culture medium and photographed its behavior in the space environment.
On June 17 a trim burn corrected a cross-track error and positioned the vehicle for the start of the Skylab 3 mission. President Nixon telephoned the astronauts from Key Biscayne, Fla.: "I guess the way 1 could summarize this project is that it proves that man still matters. With all the technical machines . . . that you had to work with, it proved that when there were difficulties the ingenuity of men in space was what really mattered, and you have made us all very proud with the way you handled some difficult problems in this project." The President invited the three Skylab astronauts to visit him at San Clemente, Calif., after splashdown.
At 3:22 am EDT June 18 (MD-25) astronauts Conrad, Kerwin, and Weitz surpassed the previous space endurance record held by the Soyuz 11 cosmonauts (launched June 6, 1971). Conrad asked that a message be relayed to Soviet cosmonauts giving "our respects at this point in our flight to them and their comrades. Wish them good luck from us in the future."
EVA-2 began at 6:53 am EDT June 19. Conrad and Weitz moved through space to retrieve and replace the ATM film cassettes while Kerwin photographed the EVA for TV from inside the Workshop. Conrad also freed a stuck relay by striking it with a hammer. One of two dead batteries began charging immediately. From the ground Schweickart said, "It worked. Thank you very much, gentlemen. You've done it again." The cameras for the white light coronagraph and x-ray spectroheliographic experiments were replaced by the astronauts to permit photography during the unmanned period between Skylab 2 and 3. EVA operations ended at 8:29 am EDT, after 1 hr 36 min.
During a June 20 press conference from space Kerwin said the astronauts' physical condition was "a pleasant big surprise. I'm tremendously encouraged about the future of long-duration flight." June 22: The astronauts undocked the CSM from the Skylab Work-shop at 4:55 am EDT on Mission Day 29. As the CSM pulled away and circled the Workshop, TV and photographic coverage were obtained by the crew. CM separation from the sm at 5:40 am EDT was followed by initial service propulsion system firing at 6:05 am EDT and a final deorbit maneuver at 9:11 am EDT.
The CM splashed down at 9:50 am EDT 1340 km (830 mi) southwest of San Diego. A recovery helicopter dropped swimmers who installed a flotation collar and a sea anchor. The recovery ship Ticonderoga was maneuvered beside the cm and a crane lifted it aboard with the astronauts inside. Medical examinations on board the recovery ship found some dizziness and ill effects from weightlessness. The crew would travel by ship to San Diego and by air to Ellington Air Force Base, Tex., June 24.
The Skylab 1-2 mission achieved its primary objectives of establish-ing the Skylab Orbital Assembly in earth orbit, obtaining medical data on the crew for use in extending the duration of manned space flight, and performing inflight experiments. It contributed significantly toward program objectives of determining man's ability to live and work in space for extended periods, extending the science of solar astronomy beyond the limits of earth-based observations, and developing improved techniques for surveying earth resources from space. Despite mission anomalies, 80% of the solar data planned was obtained; 12 of the 15 earth resources data runs were accomplished; all 16 medical experiments were conducted as required and a time history of man's adaptations to zero-g environment was obtained for the first time; and data were taken on all 43 experiments scheduled for Skylab 2 except those precluded by the use of the solar parasol and 'weight and power limitations. The performance of the flight crew was good and the mission was judged officially on July 14 to be a success.
Major records set to date included the longest-duration manned flight, 28 days 50 min; the longest total time in space for one man, 49 days for Conrad (veteran of Gemini 5 and 11 and Apollo 12 missions) the longest inflight EVA, 3 hrs 30 min by Conrad and Kerwin June 7; and the longest distance in orbit for a manned flight, 18 531 559 km (11514 967 mi).
Skylab 1-2 was the first U.S. manned orbital workshop. Skylab 3 was scheduled to be launched in August and Skylab 4 in November. The Workshop would be operated unmanned between manned missions. The Skylab program was directed by NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight. MSFC developed and integrated the major program components including the OWS, AM, MDA, ATM, payload shroud, and most experiments and was responsible for the Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles. KSC managed launch operations. JSC was responsible for flight operations, recovery, crew selection and training, and development of the modified CSM and the spacecraft launch adapter. Tracking and data acquisition was managed by Goddard Space Flight Center under the overall direction of the Office of Tracking and Data Acquisition. (NASA prog off; NASA PAO press briefing transcripts, 5/14/73-6/20/73; NASA Mission Rpt MR-3; PD, 6/25/73, 787, 827; NYT, 5/17/73-6/22/73; W Post, 5/16/73-6/22/73; W Star & News, 5/23/73-6/22/73; B Sun, 5/15/73-6/12/73; M Her, 5/14/73, 19A; H Post, 6/7/73)
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