
Image credit: NASA JSC
Image source: NASA Images

Image credit: NASA JSC
Image source: NASA Images

S71-39481 (July 1971) — An artist’s concept showing TRW’s small lunar subsatellite being ejected into lunar orbit from the SIM bay of the Apollo 15 Service Module. The 80-pound satellite will remain in orbit a year or more, carrying scientific experiments to study space in the vicinity of the moon. The satellite carries three experiments: S-Band Transponder; Particle Shadows/Boundary Layer Experiment; and Subsatellite Magnetometer Experiment. The subsatellite is housed in a container resembling a rural mailbox, and when deployed is spring-ejected out-of-plane at 4 fps with a spin rate of 140 rpm. After the satellite booms are deployed, the spin rate is stabilized at about 12 rpm. The subsatellite is 31 inches long and has a 14 inch hexagonal diameter. The exact weight is 78.5 pounds. The folded booms deploy to a length of five feet. Subsatellite electrical power is supplied by a solar cell array outputting 25 watts for dayside operation and a rechargeable silver-cadmium battery for nightside passes.
Image credit: NASA JSC
Image source: NASA Images

Image credit: Boeing Aircraft Company
Image source: Numbers Station

This illustration depicts the Skylab-1 and Skylab-2 mission sequence. The goals of the Skylab were to enrich our scientific knowledge of the Earth, the Sun, the stars, and cosmic space; to study the effects of weightlessness on living organisms, including man; to study the effects of the processing and manufacturing of materials utilizing the absence of gravity; and to conduct Earth resource observations. The Skylab also conducted 19 selected experiments submitted by high school students. Skylab’s 3 different 3-man crews spent up to 84 days in Earth orbit. The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) had responsibility for developing and integrating most of the major components of the Skylab: the Orbital Workshop (OWS), Airlock Module (AM), Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA), Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), Payload Shroud (PS), and most of the experiments. MSFC was also responsible for providing the Saturn IB launch vehicles for three Apollo spacecraft and crews and a Saturn V launch vehicle for the Skylab.
Image credit: NASA Marshall
Image source: NASA Images

Image credit: NASA Marshall
Image source: NASA Images

Image credit: NASA Marshall
Image source: NASA Images

Image credit: NASA Marshall
Image source: NASA Images

Image credit: Douglas
Image source: SDASM Archives

Conceptual view of the operations in the equatorial earth orbit. The operation in orbit is principally one of propellant transfer and it not an assembly job. The vehicle being fueled is the third stage of a SATURN II with a lunar landing and return vehicle attached. The third stage of the SATURN II was used in the combination into orbit and has thus expended its propellants. This stage is fueled into orbit by a detachment of approximately ten men after which the vehicle then proceeds on the moon.
Image credit: United States Army
Image source: NASM