Skylab

Term Paper Title	Skylab
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# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	1.77

Skylab

Skylab was America's first experimental space station. Some of Skylab's program
objectives were:  To prove that humans could live and work in space for extended
periods, and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based
observations. Skylab made much use of Saturn and Apollo equipment.  Through the
use of a "dry" third stage of the Saturn V rocket, the station was completely
made as a workshop area before launch.  Crews visited Skylab and returned to
earth in the Apollo spacecraft.

THE FLIGHTS

Skylab's  1st unmanned mission

May 14, 1973

The station was launched into orbit by a Saturn V booster.  Almost immediately,
problems developed due to vibrations during lift-off.  A critical meteoroid
shield ripped off taking one of the craft's two solar panels with it; a piece of
the shield wrapped around the other 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.  Because of the loss of the
meteoroid shield, however, this positioning caused workshop temperatures to rise
to 126 degrees F. The launch of Skylab 2 was postponed 10 days while NASA
engineers developed procedures and trained the crew to make the workshop
habitable.  At the same time, engineers "rolled" Skylab to lower the temperature
of the workshop.

Skylab's 2nd manned mission - May 25th to June 22nd

Astronauts;
        Charles Conrad, Jr.
        Paul J. Weitz
        Joseph P. Kerwin

The crew me...

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