Skylab Missions

The numerical identification of the crewed Skylab missions was the cause of some confusion. Originally, the un-crewed launch of Skylab and the three crewed missions to the station were numbered SL-1 through SL-4. During the preparations for the crewed missions, some documentation was created with a different scheme – SLM-1 through SLM-3 – for those missions only. William Pogue credits Pete Conrad with asking the Skylab program director which scheme should be used for the mission patches, and the astronauts were told to use 1–2–3, not 2–3–4. By the time NASA administrators tried to reverse this decision, it was too late, as all the in-flight clothing had already been manufactured and shipped with the 1–2–3 mission patches.

The three crewed missions, designated Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4, were made to Skylab in the Apollo command and service modules. The first crewed mission, Skylab 2, launched on May 25, 1973, atop a Saturn IB and involved extensive repairs to the station. The crew deployed a parasol-like sunshade through a small instrument port from the inside of the station, bringing station temperatures down to acceptable levels and preventing overheating that would have melted the plastic insulation inside the station and released poisonous gases. This solution was designed by NASA's "Mr. Fix It" Jack Kinzler, who won the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts. The crew conducted further repairs via two spacewalks (extravehicular activity or EVA). The crew stayed in orbit with Skylab for 28 days. Two additional missions followed, with the launch dates of July 28, 1973, (Skylab 3) and November 16, 1973, (Skylab 4), and mission durations of 59 and 84 days, respectively. The last Skylab crew returned to Earth on February 8, 1974.

Skylab I Launch: May 25, 1973 Vehicle: Saturn 1-B American Crew: Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. (Commander), Paul J. Weitz, (Command Module Pilot), Joseph P. Kerwin (Science Pilot) Landing: June 22, 1973 - Pacific Ocean Duration: 28 Days, 49 min Highlights: The crew started out with some heavy-duty DIY repairs to make on the Skylab that had been badly damaged during launch. The human missions were launched atop the Saturn 1B Launch vehicles. The meteorite shield had torn off during launch, taking with it one of the two solar panels and badly damaging the other, which would not deploy. The crew's first priority was to fashion some kind of sun shield, because the high temperatures threatened to spoil the food supply and made the interior of the station too hot to occupy, as well as releasing toxic gases from the plastics on-board and ruin all the photographic film. While staying in the more pleasant Apollo Command Module, they made a "parasol" out of foil to shield the Skylab from the sunlight, and the temperature dropped enough that they were able to enter. Two weeks later they performed a space walk and freed the damaged solar panel, which finally gave the station electrical power, and Skylab was in business! For the remainder of their month long stay, the astronauts performed other handyman chores, conducted many medical experiments and took over 29,000 pictures. This mission more than doubled the previous American space endurance record set by the Gemini 7 astronauts. Return to top of page

Skylab II Launch: July 28, 1973 Vehicle: Saturn 1-B American Crew: Alan L. Bean (Commander), Jack R. Lousma (Command Module Pilot), Owen K. Garriott (Science Pilot) Landing: September 25, 1973 - Pacific Ocean Duration: 59 Days, 9 min Highlights: This mission once again more than doubled the previous endurance record in space, set by the astronauts of Skylab I just a month earlier. After an early bout with motion sickness, the crew settled down for their two-month mission, deploying a second sun shield on a space walk lasting six hours, 30 minutes. They conducted many experiments, and brought with them live spiders to conduct a student-designed experiment to see what kinds of webs the spiders would spin in weightlessness. Also on this mission the astronauts finally got to test the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, or AMU. It had initially been carried into space aboard Gemini IX but could not be tested then because of problems with the old Gemini space suits. The AMU experiments assisted engineers in designing the Manned Maneuvering Unit, or MMU. It was first flown aboard the Shuttle flight STS-41B in February 1984 and was still in use until quite recently. Return to top of page

Skylab III Launch: November 16, 1973 Vehicle: Saturn 1-B American Crew: Gerald P. Carr (Commander), William R. Pogue (Command Module Pilot), Edward C. Gibson (Science Pilot) Landing: February 8, 1974 - Pacific Ocean Duration: 84 Days, 1 hour, 15 min Highlights: At 84 days, Skylab III (actually officially designated "Skylab 4") remains by far the longest American space flight, a record that will stand until the permanent human occupation of space begins with the International Space Station (ISS). To help keep the crew in physical condition during their almost three months in orbit, they walked on treadmills and rode an on-board stationary bicycle, and came home in far better condition than had the previous Skylab crews. Among the thousands of experiments they conducted during this long, long flight, the astronauts took four space walks, including one on Christmas Day to observe the comet Kohoutek. Return to top of page