NASA – Page 30 – Station E05

Mission Sequence

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

Art Concepts

S73-37274 (1973) — An artist’s concept illustrating how the Skylab 4 astronauts will observe, through the scientific airlock of the Orbital Workshop, the passing of the newly-discovered Comet Kohoutek. The favorable location of the Skylab space station in Earth orbit will help provide a comprehensive investigation of the nature and evolution of the coma and tails as the comet approaches, passes, and recedes from the sun. Photo credit: NASA

Image credit: NASA JSC
Image source: NASA Images

Art Concepts

S75-21432 (March 1975) — An artist’s concept illustrating a scene during the June 7, 1973 Skylab 2 extravehicular activity in Earth orbit when astronauts Joseph P. Kerwin (larger figure) and Charles Conrad Jr. cut the aluminum strapping which prevented the Skylab Orbital Workshop solar array system wing from deploying. The solar panel was successfully deployed. The painting is by artist Paul Fjeld. The action portrayed here is about two to four seconds after using the beam erection tether, the two crewmen broke the frozen SAS beam actuators. This artistic effort took weeks to research and a day and a half to paint. Fjeld said that he needed some hundred or so photographs to get all the details for the painting. He struggled through about 300 pages of transcripts from the flight. Also, he used several pages of teleprinter messages which were the actual instructions on the EVA that the two astronauts used in flight. Photo credit: NASA

Image credit: NASA Marshall
Image source: NASA Images