Skylab 3

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Mission emblem
Mission emblem Skylab 3
Mission dates
Mission: Skylab 3
COSPAR-ID : 1973-050A
Command module: CM-117
Service module: SM-117
Dimensions: 20,124 kg
Launcher: Saturn IB , serial number SA-207
Call sign: Skylab 3
Crew: 3
Begin: July 28, 1973, 11:10:50  UTC
Starting place: Kennedy Space Center , LC-39B
Space station: Skylab
Coupling: July 28, 1973, 19:37:00 UTC
Decoupling: September 25, 1973, 11:16:42 UTC
Duration on Skylab : 58d 15h 39 m 42s
Number of EVA : 3
Landing: September 25, 1973
Landing place: Pacific , 30 ° 47'N, 120 ° 29'W
Flight duration: 59d 1h 9min 4s
Earth orbits: 858
Recovery ship: USS New Orleans
Rotation time : 93.2 min
Apogee : 441 km
Perigee : 423 km
Covered track: 39.4 million km
Team photo
v.  l.  No.  Owen Garriott, Jack Lousma, Alan Bean
v. l. No. Owen Garriott, Jack Lousma, Alan Bean
◄ Before / After ►
Skylab 2 Skylab 4

Skylab 3 ( SL-3 ) was the second crew of the US American space station Skylab , launched in 1973 , consisting of Owen K. Garriott , Jack R. Lousma and Alan LaVern Bean .

The team

Along with the crews of Skylab 2 and Skylab 4 was developed by the NASA presented on 19 January 1972, the crew of Skylab 3 to the public.

Alan LaVern Bean , who in 1969 was the fourth person to set foot on the moon with Apollo 12, was selected as the commander . Jack R. Lousma became the pilot and the electrical engineer Owen K. Garriott was nominated as a science astronaut . Lousma and Garriott had no experience of space.

The substitute crew consisted of the commander Vance Brand , the pilot Don Lind and the scientist William Lenoir .

As with Skylab 2, the support crew consisted of Robert Crippen , Richard Truly , Henry Hartsfield and William Thornton .

While preparing for Skylab 3, Commander Alan Bean was nominated as the replacement in command of the Apollo Soyuz Project , which was scheduled for July 1975.

The mission was officially called Skylab 3 (SL-3), but was often also called Skylab 2 (SLM-2) because it was the second crew (manned mission) of the space station.

The preparation

The space station started with the mission designation Skylab 1 on May 14, 1973. During the start, however, the entire micrometeorite protective shield tore off, which also damaged two solar module carriers. For this reason, the first crew (mission name Skylab 2) only started ten days late, whereas the start of Skylab 3 was brought forward by three weeks in order not to leave the station unmanned for too long.

Parts of the Saturn 1B rocket AS-207 had already been delivered in the summer of 1971, but the spacecraft CSM-117 was not mounted on the rocket until June 8, 1973. On June 17, the rocket was struck by lightning several times on the launch pad. After testing, some devices had to be replaced.

Similar to the previous mission, the Skylab 3 astronauts also had to perform repair tasks at the station. The micrometeorite protection shield, which was destroyed when Skylab was launched and was also intended to serve as a heat shield, was replaced by a heat protection film by the Skylab 2 astronauts, which was supposed to prevent direct sunlight, but this was only intended as a temporary measure. Skylab 3 spacemen should now install better sun protection. In order to practice the work in weightlessness , the processes under water were rehearsed again and again.

Alan L. Bean during EVA

Flight history

Skylab 3 took off on July 28, 1973 and reached Earth orbit a few minutes later . About eight hours later, they reached the space station, which had remained unmanned for about a month.

In the first few days, all three astronauts suffered from space sickness . This was surprising, as none of the three had been found to be susceptible upon investigation. In previous Apollo flights, individual astronauts were repeatedly affected by space sickness, but never a complete crew. At times Skylab 3 was a full day behind schedule, but as their health improved, the astronauts quickly caught up.

On August 2nd a problem with the control nozzles (RCS Quads) of the Apollo spacecraft became apparent. One of the four nozzle quartets had already failed on the start day, and now a second one was leaking. Although it was possible to return to Earth with just two functioning quads, it was not certain whether the two failures were related and whether the two remaining nozzles would also be affected. To be on the safe side, preparations for a rescue flight began in Cape Canaveral . For this purpose, plans called Skylab Rescue had been drawn up several years ago .

It was planned that the substitutes Vance Brand and Don Lind would start with the spacecraft planned for Skylab 4. However, it would have been modified so that instead of the usual three there was even room for five crew members. Brand and Lind would have docked on the second coupling adapter so that Bean, Lousma and Garriott could have boarded. Depending on the time of the emergency, the lead time for this rescue flight was 10 to 45 days. In this case, an Apollo spacecraft could have launched on September 9th at the earliest.

If this option had not been provided, the mission would have been aborted immediately for security reasons. But this way you weren't under time pressure and you could analyze the problem in peace. It turned out that the failures of the Apollo control nozzles were not interrelated, so the course of Skylab 3 was not endangered.

On August 6th, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma went out for an spacecraft mission . It was their job to install the sun protection, change films on the solar camera and oversee three experiments. They were outside the station for 6 hours and 31 minutes. The improved sun protection consisted of a rectangular film that was fastened with linen and placed over the umbrella-like sun protection of the previous mission. The temperature in the station then adjusted to the planned values. Additional spacecraft missions took place on August 24 (Garriott and Lousma) and September 22 (Garriott and Bean).

The team initially lagged behind schedule, but then caught up quickly and worked off an unexpectedly high level of workload. At the end of the mission it should be found that the work performed corresponded to 150% of the expectation. However, they also set a high bar for the third team.

In early September, Bean even asked to extend the stay by a week, but the control center disagreed. On the one hand, the doctors wanted more detailed examinations before agreeing to an extension, on the other hand, the food and film supplies were running low.

On September 25th, Bean, Lousma and Garriott re-boarded the Apollo lander and returned to Earth. Like their predecessors, they remained after the splashdown in the landing capsule until it aboard the amphibious assault ship USS New Orleans was lifted.

The whereabouts of the flight hardware

The Skylab 3 Command Module has been on display on loan from the Smithsonian Institute at NASA's Glenn Research Center Visitor Center in Cleveland , Ohio , since June 22, 2010 .

Significance for the Skylab project

With the 59 days in space, the three astronauts from Skylab 3 had again set a new endurance record. Bean, along with his flight from Apollo 12, had the record for the longest stay in multiple space flights.

Scientifically, the mission was a complete success. Bean, Lousma, and Garriott had achieved more than had been hoped for. The possibility of a rescue flight had proven to be very useful, even if it was not needed after all. Finally, space sickness was an issue that needed further investigation because it was still not fully understood.

See also

literature

The following NASA books (all in English) are available online:

Also on the NASA History Office website:

Web links

Commons : Skylab  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Jesco von Puttkamer: "Skylab" space station - the harvest begins. VDI-Z Volume 116 (1974) No. 16, pp. 1283-1291