Skylab :: essays research papers

SkylabSkylab was Americas first experimental berth station. Some of Skylabs programobjectives were To prove that humans could live and work in space for extendedperiods, and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-basedobservations. Skylab made much use of Saturn and Apollo equipment. Through theuse of a "dry" trio stage of the Saturn V rocket, the station was completelymade as a workshop area before launch. Crews visited Skylab and returned toearth in the Apollo spacecraft.THE FLIGHTSSkylabs 1st unmanned guardianshipwhitethorn 14, 1973The station was launched into orbit by a Saturn V booster. Almost immediately,problems developed due to vibrations during lift-off. A critical meteoroidshield ripped off victorious one of the crafts two solar panels with it a piece ofthe shield wrapped around the other panel keeping it from deploying.Skylab was maneuvered so its Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) solar panels faced theSun to provide as much electricity as po ssible. Because of the loss of themeteoroid shield, however, this positioning caused workshop temperatures to riseto 126 degrees F. The launch of Skylab 2 was postponed 10 days while NASAengineers developed procedures and trained the crew to make the workshophabitable. At the same time, engineers "rolled" Skylab to lower the temperatureof the workshop.Skylabs 2nd manned mission - May 25th to June 22ndAstronautsCharles Conrad, Jr.Paul J. WeitzJoseph P. KerwinThe crew meats with Skylab on the fifth orbit. After making many repairs,including deployment of parasol sunshade which cooled the inside temperatures to75 degrees F, by June 4 the workshop was in full operation. In orbit the crewconducted solar Earth resources experiments, medical studies, and five studentexperiments 404 orbits and 392 experiment hours were completed cardinal EVAsthat totaled six hours, 20 minuets.Skylabs 3rd manned mission - July 28th to September 25th, 1973AstronautsAlan L. BeanJack R. LousmaOwen K. G arriottContinued maintenance of the space station and considerable scientific and medicalexperiments. Completed 858 Earth orbits and 1,081 hours of solar and Earthexperiments three EVAs totaled 13 hours, 43 minuets.Skylabs 4th mission - November 16th, 1973 to February 8th 1974AstronautsGerald P. CarrWilliam R.