SKYLAB OPERATIONS SUMMARY
The Skylab space station was launched May 14, 1973, from the NASA Kennedy
Space Center by a huge Saturn V launch vehicle, the moon rocket of the Apollo
Space Program. Sixty-three seconds after liftoff, the meteoroid shield--designed
also to shade Skylab's workshop--deployed inadvertently. It was torn from
the space station by atmospheric drag. This event and its effects started
a ten-day period in which Skylab was beset with problems that had to be
conquered before the space station would be safe and habitable for the three
manned periods of its planned eight-month mission.
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. 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.
Skylab's achievements are a summary of the accomplishments of many ground-based
persons as well as its three separate crews who were launched in Apollo-type
command modules by Saturn IB vehicles on May 25, July 28, and November 16,
1973. In Skylab, both the man-hours in space and the man-hours spent in
performance of extravehicular activities (EVA) under micro-gravity conditions
exceeded the combined totals of all of the world's previous space flights
up to that time.
By deploying the parasol-type sun shield through Skylab's solar scientific
airlock and later releasing workshop solar array wing number one during
EVA, the first crew made the remainder of the mission possible. The second
crew, also during EVA, erected another sun shield, a twin-pole device.
The effectiveness of Skylab crews exceeded expectations, especially in
their ability to perform complex repair tasks. They demonstrated excellent
mobility, both internal and external to the space station, showing man to
be a positive asset in conducting research from space. By selecting and
photographing targets of opportunity on the Sun, and by evaluating weather
conditions on Earth and recommending Earth Resources opportunities, crewmen
were instrumental in attaining extremely high quality solar and Earth oriented
data.
All three crews demonstrated technical skills for scientific, operational,
and maintenance functions. Their manual control of the space station, their
fine pointing of experiments, and their reasoning and judgment throughout
the manned periods were highly effective.
The capability to conduct longer manned missions was conclusively demonstrated
in Skylab, first by the crew returning from the 28 day mission and, more
forcefully, by the good health and physical condition of the second and
third Skylab crews who stayed in weightless space for 59 and 84 days respectively.
Also, resupply of space vehicles was attempted for the first time in Skylab
and was proven to be effective.
During their time in space, all three crews exceeded the operational and
experimental requirements placed upon them by the pre-mission flight plan
and schedule. In addition, the third crew performed a number of sightings
of Comet Kohoutek which were not initially scheduled.
Following the final manned phase of the Skylab mission, ground controllers
performed some engineering tests of certain Skylab systems--tests that ground
personnel were reluctant to do while men were aboard. Results from these
tests helped to determine causes of failures during the mission and to obtain
data on long term degradation of space systems.
Upon completion of the engineering tests, Skylab was positioned into a
stable attitude and systems were shut down. It was expected that Skylab
would remain in orbit eight to ten years. However, in the fall of 1977,
it was determined that Skylab was no longer in a stable attitude as a result
of greater than predicted solar activity.
On July 11, 1979, Skylab impacted the Earth surface. The debris dispersion
area stretched from the Southeastern Indian Ocean across a sparsely populated
section of Western Australia.
SKYLAB SUMMARY
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SKYLAB SUMMARY
SL-1 SL-2 SL-3 SL-4
LAUNCH 05-14-73 05-25-73 07-28-73 11-16-73
1:30PM EDT 9:00AM EDT 7:11AM EDT 9:01AM EST
LAUNCH
VEHICLES SATURN V SATURN IB SATURN IB SATURN IB
ORBITAL
PARAMETERS 268.1 x 269.5 Miles
ORBITAL
INCLINATION 50 Degrees
ORBITAL
PERIOD APP. 93 MINUTES
DISTANCE/
ORBIT 26,575 MILES
DISTANCE
TRAVELED/Miles SL-2 SL-3 SL-4 TOTALS
(MANNED) 11.5 Million 24.5 Million 34.5 Million 70.5 Million Miles
MISSION
DURATION 28 DAYS 59 DAYS 84 DAYS 171 DAYS
49 MIN 11 HRS 9 MIN 01 HR 16 MIN 13 HRS 14 MIN
NUMBER
OF
REVOLUTIONS
(MANNED) 404 858 1214 2476
______________________________________________________________________
SKYLAB CREWS
SL-2 DURATION
COMMANDER Charles Conrad May 25 1973 - June 22 1973
PILOT Paul J. Weitz
SCIENTIST PILOT Joseph Kerwin 28 days
SL-3
COMMANDER Alan L. Bean July 28 1973 - Sep 25 1973
PILOT Jack R. Lousma
SCIENTIST PILOT Owen Garriott 59 days
SL-4
COMMANDER Gerald P. Carr Nov 16 1973 - Feb 08 1974
PILOT William R. Pogue
SCIENTIST PILOT Edward Gibson 84 days
______________________________________________________________________
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SKYLAB SUMMARY continued
Skylab-2 MANHOUR UTILIZATION
MEDICAL ACTIVITIES 145.3 HOURS 7.5 PERCENT
SOLAR OBSERVATIONS 117.2 " 6.0 "
EARTH RESOURCES 71.4 " 3.7 "
OTHER EXPERIMENTS 65.4 " 3.4 "
SLEEP, REST & OFF
DUTY 675.6 " 34.7 "
PRE/POST SLEEP &
EATING 477.1 " 24.5 "
HOUSEKEEPING 103.6 " 5.3 "
PHYSICAL TRAINING
& PERSONAL HYGIENE 56.2 " 2.9 "
OTHER (EVA) ETC 232.5 " 12.0 "
TOTAL: 1944.3 " 100 "
Skylab-3
MEDICAL ACTIVITIES 312.5 " 8.0 "
SOLAR OBSERVATIONS 305.1 " 7.8 "
EARTH RESOURCES 223.5 " 5.7 "
OTHER EXPERIMENTS 243.6 " 6.2 "
SLEEP, REST & OFF
DUTY 1224.5 " 31.2 "
PRE/POST SLEEP &
EATING 975.7 " 24.8 "
HOUSEKEEPING 158.4 " 4.0 "
PHYSICAL TRAINING
& PERSONAL HYGIENE 202.2 " 5.2 "
OTHER (EVA) ETC 279.7 " 7.1 "
TOTAL: 3925.2 " 100 "
Skylab-4
MEDICAL ACTIVITIES 366.7 " 6.1 "
SOLAR OBSERVATIONS 519.0 " 8.5 "
EARTH RESOURCES 274.5 " 4.5 "
OTHER EXPERIMENTS 403.0 " 6.7 "
SLEEP, REST & OFF
DUTY 1846.5 " 30.5 "
PRE/POST SLEEP &
EATING 1384.0 " 23.0 "
HOUSEKEEPING 298.9 " 4.9 "
PHYSICAL TRAINING
& PERSONAL HYGIENE 384.5 " 6.4 "
OTHER (EVA) ETC 571.4 " 9.4 "
TOTAL: 6048.5 " 100 "
Skylab TOTALS FOR SL-2, SL-3 AND SL-4
MEDICAL ACTIVITIES 824.5 " 6.9 "
SOLAR RESOURCES 941.3 " 7.9 "
EARTH RESOURCES 569.4 " 4.8 "
OTHER EXPERIMENTS 712.0 " 6.0 "
SLEEP, REST & OFF
DUTY 3746.6 " 31.5 "
PRE/POST SLEEP &
EATING 2836.8 " 23.8 "
HOUSEKEEPING 560.9 " 4.7 "
PHYSICAL TRAINING
& PERSONAL HYGIENE 642.9 " 5.4 "
OTHER (EVA) ETC 1083.6 " 9.0 "
TOTAL: 11918.0 " 100 "
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EXPERIMENT PERFORMANCE
SL-2 SL-3 SL-4 TOTALS
HOURS % HOURS % HOURS % HOURS %
SOLAR ASTRONOMY 117.2 29.9 305.1 28.2 519.0 33.2 941.3 31.0
EARTH OBSERVATIONS 71.4 18.2 223.5 20.6 274.5 17.6 569.4 18.8
STUDENT 3.7 0.9 10.8 1.0 14.8 0.9 29.3 0.9
ASTROPHYSICS 36.6 9.4 103.8 9.6 133.8 8.5 274.2 9.0
MAN/SYSTEMS 12.1 3.1 117.4 10.8 83.0 5.3 212.5 7.0
MATERIALS SCIENCE 5.9 1.5 8.4 0.8 15.4 1.0 29.7 1.0
LIFE SCIENCE 145.3 37.0 312.5 29.0 366.7 23.5 824.5 27.2
KOHOUTEK ----- ---- ----- ---- 156.0 10.0 156.0 5.1
TOTALS 392.2 100 1081.5 100 1563.2 100 3036.9 100
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EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITIES
SL-2 SL-3 SL-4
STAND UP EVA 05-25-73
33 MIN
EVA 1 06-07-73 08-06-73 11-22-73
4 HRS 10 MIN 6 HRS 31 MIN 6 HRS 33 MIN
EVA 2 06-19-73 08-24-73 12-25-73
1 HR 37 MIN 4 HRS 30 MIN 6 HRS 51 MIN
EVA 3 09-22-73 12-29-73
2 HRS 42 MIN 3 HRS 30 MIN
EVA 4 02-03-74
5 HRS 19 MIN
TOTALS: 6 HRS 20 MIN 13 HRS 43 MIN 22 HRS 13 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 41 HRS 22 MIN
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DATE RETURNED
SL-2 SL-3 SL-4 TOTALS
SOLAR OBSERVATIONS 28739 FRAMES 74942 FRMS 73366 FRMS 177047 FRMS
EARTH OBSERVATIONS
FILM 9846 FRAMES 16800 FRMS 19400 FRMS 46146 FRMS
MAGNETIC TAPE 45000 FT 93600 FT 100000 FT 238600 FT
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SKYLAB SUMMARY (CONCLUDED)
EXPERIMENT SUMMARY PLANNED ACTUAL PERCENT DEVIATION
Earth Observation Passes 62 99 + 60 %
Solar Viewing Time 566 hrs 724.7 hrs + 27.5 %
Manned Solar Viewing Time 879.5 hrs 941.3 hrs + 7.1 %
Biomedical Investigations 701 922 + 32 %
Engineering/Tech Inves. 264 245 - 3.4 %
Materials/Space Manuf. Inves. 10 32 +220 %
Astrophysics Investigations 168 345 +105 %
Student Exp. Investigations 44 52 + 18 %
Science Demonstrations 26 11 - 42 %
(OPTIONAL SL-4 ONLY)
CONSUMABLE UTILIZATION
LAUNCH END OF MISSION CONSUMABLES USED
Water 6000 LBS 1710 LBS 4290 LBS
Oxygen 6100 LBS 2764 LBS 3336 LBS
Nitrogen 1540 LBS 607 LBS 933 LBS
TACS 80000 LBS-SEC 12488 LBS 67512 LBS-SEC*
* Over 12% of the TACS were used during the first 10 days of the
mission
MISSION ACHIEVEMENTS
SL-2 FIRST MISSION
INSTALLED SOLAR SHIELD "PARASOL" FROM SCIENTIFIC AIRLOCK
RELEASED SOLAR ARRAY WING ON EVA
DOUBLED PREVIOUS LENGTH OF TIME IN SPACE
SL-3 SECOND MISSION
INSTALLED TWINPOLE SOLAR SHIELD ON EVA
PERFORMED MAJOR INFLIGHT MAINTENANCE
DOUBLED PREVIOUS LENGTH OF TIME IN SPACE
SL-4 THIRD MISSION
OBSERVED AND PHOTOGRAPHED COMET KOHOUTEK
INCREASED PREVIOUS LENGTH OF TIME IN SPACE BY ABOUT 50%
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SKYLAB OPERATIONS SUMMARY, PAO MSFC/NASA
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