SKYLAB I THE LAUNCH OF THE STATION 05/14/73
The Skylab station was May 14, 1973, by the Saturn V booster. Right after launched commenced problems developed due to vibrations during lift-off. A meteoroid shield was ripped off durring take off and it took one of the craft's two solar panels with it. A piece of the shield wrapped around the other solar panel keeping it from deploying.
Skylab was maneuvered so its Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) solar panels faced the Sun to provide as much electricity as possible. Due to the loss of the Skylabs meteoroid shield this positioning caused the workshop temperature to rise to 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees F). The launch of Skylab 2 was postponed while NASA engineers, developed procedures and trained the crew to make the workshop habitable again..
SKYLAB II THE FIRST MANNED MISSION OF THE SKYLAB PROJECT 05/25/73
The first manned mission of the Skylab project was launched on May 25, 1973. The crew would stay on board the station till June 22 when all their mission objectives were meant. The crew members for this part Skylab mission was . . . Commander Charles Conrad Jr., Pilot Paul J. Weitz, and Scientist Pilot Joseph P. Kerwin. These men orbited the Earth for 28 days and 50 minutes.
Once the astronauts were in orbit, their first priority was to install a parasol sunshade. When astronauts tried to install the sunshade foil to the out side of the workshop the sunshade was to small. It only covered 2/3 of the exposed Work Shop. Mission Control said that after the sun heated the sunshade the wrinkles would stretch out and the shade would fit fine. The sunshade cooled the temperature of the cabin from 38 degrees C. to 23.8 degrees C. (75 degrees F).
On May 30, 1973, Skylab had a few more problems. During a shut down period of the solar energy, to see if the batteries aboard could generate enough energy to support the station four of them fell of line leaving on three to support the station if needed.
Two weeks after the sunshade was installed the crew conducted a EVA to release the damaged solar array. The EVA was successful and the array brought power to the station.
The crew completed many experiments over the 28 day long mission. They also took many pictures of Earth for the life resources Ex.
SKYLAB III AN OUT STANDING CREW 06/28/73
The crew had a little problem with motion sickness for the first week or so. After they adapted to life in space, they completed their mission with flying colors. The mission as well as the project had to be cut a little short, because of a faulty steering rocket. Days after the first steering rocket went bad a second one fell below normal requirements. The of the remaining rockets failing was great. Fortunately NASA had had a rescue operation planned from the start. A ship would be ready to retrieve the crew in September if needed. NASA never made to that stage of the game though. The remaining rockets never failed and the mission continued as planned.
The crew conducted several experiments involving two spiders they had brought up to the station with them. This was a student involvement experiment. The main purpose of the experiments on the spiders was to see if they could spin a regular web in micro gravity. The spiders performed without a single problem. They eventually died from either starvation or of lake water.
The crew performed had to do a little handy work on the station, because it kept experiencing minor malfunction here and there. Other than that the mission was a complete success.
The crew completed 100% of their mission objectives. Infact the crew asked for additional time to work on other experiments.
SKYLAB IV THE FINAL SKYLAB PROJECT 02/08/74
Since the second crew preformed their mission objectives so quickly, NASA gave the third crew of Skylab a much more demanding schedule to fallow. After about three weeks of this mission the crew had had enough. The crew told NASA they needed to loosen up the work schedule it was to much for them. The crew stated that they needed more time to their heads and less work. So NASA gave them a less demanding work schedule.
Pilot Progue developed motion sickness shortly after take off. He vomited once, but the nausea he experienced was pretty bad. The crew wanted to keep it a secret from the boys at home, but they forgot that an onboard tape recorder was running. . . and well you could say it wasn't pretty. They decided to tell Mission Control about the nausea but not the vomit.
The one of the main drives of the Skylab project for NASA was the chance to view a comet. The crew saw the comet on December 29, 1973. The name of the comet is Kohoutek. The comet may not return for 75,000 years or more.
For the first time since Gemini VI, T.V. stations wouldn't show the splash down of the crew. On their way down, crew men Progue was holding a camera. He was supposed to take a few photos on the way down and then put it away in a locker. Well, when the craft reenter the atmosphere and gravity took hold Progue said " the camera felt like it weighed 50 pounds, so I held on to it as tight as I could". Even through all that the mission was a complete success.
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