The Skylab Rescue Mission (also SL-R ) was an unflown rescue mission, planned as a contingency in the event of astronauts being stranded aboard the American Skylab space station. If flown, it would have used a modified Apollo Command Module that could be launched with a crew of two and return a crew of five.
97-668: Astronauts Vance Brand and Don Lind were assigned as the rescue crew, in the event of the mission's necessity. A rescue mission was considered when the Skylab 3 Command/Service Module (CSM) developed problems in its reaction control system (RCS) thrusters while docked to the station. On the ground, space vehicles were assembled to fly rescue missions in support of both Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 . However, no rescue mission ever proved necessary. All astronauts visiting Skylab returned safely to Earth in their original command modules. Plans for outfitting an Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) as
194-420: A Gemini capsule on a Titan II-C , the latter being much less expensive in the case where cargo was not needed. Proposals ranged from an Apollo-based station with two to three men, or a small "canister" for four men with Gemini capsules resupplying it, to a large, rotating station with 24 men and an operating lifetime of about five years. A proposal to study the use of a Saturn S-IVB as a crewed space laboratory
291-441: A dart set , playing cards , and other recreational equipment in addition to books and music players, the window with its view of Earth became the most popular way to relax in orbit. Prior to departure about 80 experiments were named, although they are also described as "almost 300 separate investigations". Experiments were divided into six broad categories: Because the solar scientific airlock – one of two research airlocks –
388-447: A " wet workshop " concept, because of the conversion of an active fuel tank. The station filled the entire interior of the S-II stage's hydrogen tank, with the equipment section forming a "spine" and living quarters located between it and the walls of the booster. This would have resulted in a very large 33 by 45 feet (10 by 14 m) living area. Power was to be provided by solar cells lining
485-466: A Saturn IB rocket from Launch Pad 39B. Skylab 1 was the last uncrewed launch from LC-39A until February 19, 2017, when SpaceX CRS-10 was launched from there. 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
582-446: A day and skipped some tests, the mission could launch on September 10, and would last no more than five days. The astronauts would attempt to prepare Skylab for further use but returning experimental data and diagnosing the cause of the problem were more important, with Lind choosing what would be brought back. Human urine and feces samples and Apollo Telescope Mount and other film were the priorities. Although Skylab had two docking ports
679-420: A large, circular station 250 feet (75 m) in diameter that would rotate to generate artificial gravity and require a fleet of 7,000 short tons (6,400 metric tons) space shuttles for construction in orbit. The 80 men aboard the station would include astronomers operating a telescope, meteorologists to forecast the weather, and soldiers to conduct surveillance. Von Braun expected that future expeditions to
776-619: A mission mode that would not need in-orbit assembly. A smaller station that a single rocket could launch retained value, however, for scientific purposes. In 1959, von Braun, head of the Development Operations Division at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency , submitted his final Project Horizon plans to the U.S. Army . The overall goal of Horizon was to place men on the Moon, a mission that would soon be taken over by
873-585: A private area the size of a small walk-in closet , with a curtain, sleeping bag, and locker. Designers also added a shower and a toilet for comfort and to obtain precise urine and feces samples for examination on Earth. The waste samples were so important that they would have been priorities in any rescue mission . Skylab did not have recycling systems such as the conversion of urine to drinking water; it also did not dispose of waste by dumping it into space. The S-IVB's 73,280 liters (16,120 imp gal; 19,360 U.S. gal) liquid oxygen tank below
970-466: A reentry with failed quads was safe. They also devised a method to deorbit with the command module's attitude control system. Later joking that they were "very efficient but perfectly stupid, because we have literally worked ourselves out of the mission", Brand and Lind continued to train for a rescue mission, as well as for their backup roles, but the Skylab 3 crew was able to complete its full 59-day mission on
1067-533: A repair of this magnitude was performed in space. The Apollo Telescope significantly advanced solar science, and observation of the Sun was unprecedented. Astronauts took thousands of photographs of Earth, and the Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) viewed Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible , infrared , and microwave spectral regions. The record for human time spent in orbit
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#17328477986071164-457: A rescue vehicle, the storage lockers were removed and replaced with two crew couches to seat a total of five crewmen. The biggest risk in a rescue was the three upper seats "stroking" or collapsing onto the two lower seats in a rough landing, but no stroking occurred in previous missions. Soon after Skylab 3 's launch the crew's CSM developed a problem with Quad B, one of its four reaction control system thrusters. On August 2, 1973, six days later,
1261-732: A result of a NASA contest. The actual stage that flew was the upper stage of the AS-212 rocket (the S-IVB stage, S-IVB 212). The mission computer used aboard Skylab was the IBM System/4Pi TC-1, a relative of the AP-101 Space Shuttle computers. The Saturn V with serial number SA-513, originally produced for the Apollo program – before the cancellation of Apollo 18, 19, and 20 – was repurposed and redesigned to launch Skylab. The Saturn V's third stage
1358-482: A short 20-day Skylab 5 flight that would use this backup CSM. The crew, likely consisting of Brand, Lind, and Skylab backup Science Pilot William B. Lenoir , would have performed some scientific research and closed out the station until the Space Shuttle was operational. However, the extension of Skylab 4 from fifty-six to eighty-four days obviated the need for the additional mission. Brand and Lind were assigned as
1455-557: A shower once a week, but found drying themselves in weightlessness and vacuuming excess water difficult; later crews usually cleaned themselves daily with wet washcloths instead of using the shower. Astronauts also found that bending over in weightlessness to put on socks or tie shoelaces strained their abdominal muscles. Breakfast began at 7 a.m. Astronauts usually stood to eat, as sitting in microgravity also strained their abdominal muscles. They reported that their food – although greatly improved from Apollo –
1552-403: A snowstorm-like effect outside the station startled the crew during breakfast. What appeared to be "a real blizzard" was fuel leaking from Quad D, opposite from Quad B. The malfunctions left two available quads, and while the spacecraft could operate with just one, the leaks posed a possible risk to other systems. The fuel for all quads and the main service propulsion system (SPS) engine were from
1649-598: A space rescue vehicle date back to November 1965 when North American Rockwell technicians conceived the possibility of a rescue mission for astronauts trapped in lunar orbit . After a rescue mission in Earth orbit was depicted in the 1969 film Marooned , the company revived the concept in November 1970. Marshall Space Flight Center issued a formal Mission Requirements document on 17 May 1972, with subsequent revisions. Skylab 3 astronauts Alan Bean and Jack Lousma helped design
1746-492: A system that help detect and control the orientation of the station in space. Other sensors that helped with this were a Sun tracker and a star tracker . The sensors fed data to the main computer, which could then use the control gyroscopes and or the thruster system to keep Skylab pointed as desired. Skylab had a zero-gravity shower system in the work and experiment section of the Orbital Workshop designed and built at
1843-536: A two-person crew. The station was the same diameter as a Titan II upper stage , and would be launched with the crew riding atop in a modified Gemini capsule with a hatch cut into the heat shield on the bottom of the capsule. MOL competed for funding with a NASA station for the next five years and politicians and other officials often suggested that NASA participate in MOL or use the DoD design. The military project led to changes to
1940-672: A variety of LM or CSM-based hardware. Although it did not look at the space station specifically, over the next two years the office would become increasingly dedicated to this role. In August 1965, the office was renamed, becoming the Apollo Applications Program (AAP). As part of their general work, in August 1964 the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) presented studies on an expendable lab known as Apollo X , short for Apollo Extension System . Apollo X would have replaced
2037-468: Is a retired American naval officer , aviator , aeronautical engineer , test pilot , and NASA astronaut . He served as command module pilot during the first U.S.-Soviet joint spaceflight in 1975, and as commander of three Space Shuttle missions . Brand's flight experience includes 9,669 flying hours, which includes 8,089 hours in jets , 391 hours in helicopters , 746 hours in spacecraft, and checkout in more than 30 types of military aircraft. Brand
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#17328477986072134-581: The Apollo Logistic Support System Office , originally intended to study various ways to modify the Apollo hardware for scientific missions. The office initially proposed a number of projects for direct scientific study, including an extended-stay lunar mission which required two Saturn V launchers, a "lunar truck" based on the Lunar Module (LM), a large, crewed solar telescope using an LM as its crew quarters, and small space stations using
2231-703: The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . CSM 119 is located in the Apollo/Saturn V Center. The Saturn IB booster for AS 209 is currently located in the Visitor Complex's Rocket Garden. It is displayed horizontally, mated to an Apollo FVV (Facilities Verification Vehicle) which was formerly displayed at the VAB's Visitor Complex circa October 1968. In 2007, after the command module had sat untouched for over 30 years, NASA engineers used it for studies on
2328-481: The Manned Spaceflight Center . It had a cylindrical curtain that went from floor to ceiling and a vacuum system to suck away water. The floor of the shower had foot restraints. To bathe, the user coupled a pressurized bottle of warmed water to the shower's plumbing, then stepped inside and secured the curtain. A push-button shower nozzle was connected by a stiff hose to the top of the shower. The system
2425-516: The Moon and Mars would leave from the station. The development of the transistor , the solar cell , and telemetry , led in the 1950s and early 1960s to uncrewed satellites that could take photographs of weather patterns or enemy nuclear weapons and send them to Earth. A large station was no longer necessary for such purposes, and the United States Apollo program to send men to the Moon chose
2522-665: The Multiple Docking Adapter , mainly because the structure could not carry enough weight for a single larger film vault. The orbital workshop could handle a single larger safe, which is also more efficient for shielding. A later example of a radiation vault is the Juno Radiation Vault for the Juno Jupiter orbiter, launched in 2011, which was designed to protect much of the uncrewed spacecraft's electronics, using 1 cm thick walls of titanium . The large vault in
2619-510: The S-II second stage of a Saturn V. His design replaced the S-IVB third stage with an aeroshell, primarily as an adapter for the CSM on top. Inside the shell was a 10 feet (3.0 m) cylindrical equipment section. On reaching orbit, the S-II second stage would be vented to remove any remaining hydrogen fuel, then the equipment section would be slid into it via a large inspection hatch. This became known as
2716-410: The micrometeoroid shield tore away from the workshop, taking one of the main solar panel arrays with it and jamming the other main array. This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power and also removed protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. The first crew deployed a replacement heat shade and freed the jammed solar panels to save Skylab. This was the first time that
2813-407: The "field modification kit" to use a standard CSM for rescue, and would have flown the CSM for their mission to rescue Skylab 2 if necessary. The standard Skylab Command Module accommodated a crew of three with storage lockers on the aft bulkhead for resupply of experiment film and other equipment, as well as the return of exposed film, data tapes and experiment samples. To convert the standard CSM to
2910-584: The AAP program. Although this would have allowed them to develop von Braun's original S-II-based mission, by this time so much work had been done on the S-IV-based design that work continued on this baseline. With the extra power available, the wet workshop was no longer needed; the S-IC and S-II lower stages could launch a "dry workshop", with its interior already prepared, directly into orbit. A dry workshop simplified plans for
3007-475: The Apollo 13 crisis, Brand was CAPCOM during the PC+2 burn. Later he was backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15 , and was likely to be named to the prime crew of Apollo 18 before that mission was canceled. Brand was backup commander for Skylabs 3 and 4 . When Skylab 3's CSM had problems with its Reaction Control System, Brand was put on standby to command a rescue mission with backup Pilot Don Lind ; however,
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3104-534: The Apollo CSM launched by the smaller Saturn IB rocket. Skylab included the Apollo Telescope Mount (a multi-spectral solar observatory), a multiple docking adapter with two docking ports, an airlock module with extravehicular activity (EVA) hatches, and the orbital workshop, the main habitable space inside Skylab. Electrical power came from solar arrays and fuel cells in the docked Apollo CSM. The rear of
3201-467: The Apollo Telescope Mount, and to resist various forces that can change the station's orientation. Some of the forces acting on Skylab that the pointing system needed to resist: The Skylab-A attitude and pointing control system has been developed to meet the high accuracy requirements established by the desired experiment conditions. Conditions must be maintained by the control system under
3298-459: The LM carried on the top of the S-IVB stage with a small space station slightly larger than the CSM's service area, containing supplies and experiments for missions between 15 and 45 days' duration. Using this study as a baseline, a number of different mission profiles were looked at over the next six months. In November 1964, von Braun proposed a more ambitious plan to build a much larger station built from
3395-585: The NASA plans so that they would resemble MOL less. NASA management was concerned about losing the 400,000 workers involved in Apollo after landing on the Moon in 1969. A reason von Braun, head of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center during the 1960s, advocated a smaller station after his large one was not built was that he wished to provide his employees with work beyond developing the Saturn rockets, which would be completed relatively early during Project Apollo. NASA set up
3492-707: The Orbital Work Shop was used to store trash and wastewater, passed through an airlock . On August 8, 1969, the McDonnell Douglas Corporation received a contract for the conversion of two existing S-IVB stages to the Orbital Workshop configuration. One of the S-IV test stages was shipped to McDonnell Douglas for the construction of a mock-up in January 1970. The Orbital Workshop was renamed "Skylab" in February 1970 as
3589-467: The Orbital Workshop would be launched as a part of Apollo mission AS-209, originally one of the Earth-orbit CSM test launches, followed by two Saturn I/CSM crew launches, AAP-1 and AAP-2. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) remained AAP's chief competitor for funds, although the two programs cooperated on technology. NASA considered flying experiments on MOL or using its Titan IIIC booster instead of
3686-595: The Rocky Mountain Conservancy, which is the nonprofit arm of Rocky Mountain National Park , hoping to expand the national park that he has visited throughout his life. He had purchased the land in 1967. The 40 acres of rugged terrain, located near Estes Cone and roughly 4 miles from Longs Peak, borders Rocky Mountain National Park on two sides. The United States Congress will need to approve the boundary change for this acreage to be officially incorporated into
3783-408: The S-IV stage, before it was replaced by the S-IVB. On April 1, 1966, MSC sent out contracts to Douglas, Grumman , and McDonnell for the conversion of an S-IVB spent stage, under the name Saturn S-IVB spent-stage experiment support module (SSESM). In May 1966, astronauts voiced concerns over the purging of the stage's hydrogen tank in space. Nevertheless, in late July 1966, it was announced that
3880-577: The Skylab digital computer. Two of three were active and their input was averaged, while the third was a backup. From NASA SP-400 Skylab, Our First Space Station , "each Skylab control-moment gyroscope consisted of a motor-driven rotor, electronics assembly, and power inverter assembly. The 21-inch-diameter (530 mm) rotor weighed 155 pounds (70 kg) and rotated at approximately 8950 revolutions per minute". There were three control moment gyroscopes on Skylab, but only two were required to maintain pointing. The control and sensor gyroscopes were part of
3977-499: The Skylab missions would last for months. NASA sent a scientist on Jacques Piccard 's Ben Franklin submarine in the Gulf Stream in July and August 1969 to learn how six people would live in an enclosed space for four weeks. Astronauts were uninterested in watching movies on a proposed entertainment center or in playing games, but they did want books and individual music choices. Food
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4074-659: The Soviet Soyuz 11 crew aboard the space station Salyut 1 on June 30, 1971. Skylab 2 lasted 28 days, Skylab 3 – 56 days, and Skylab 4 – 84 days. Astronauts performed ten spacewalks, totaling 42 hours and 16 minutes. Skylab logged about 2,000 hours of scientific and medical experiments, 127,000 frames of film of the Sun and 46,000 of Earth. Solar experiments included photographs of eight solar flares and produced valuable results that scientists stated would have been impossible to obtain with uncrewed spacecraft. The existence of
4171-513: The Sun's coronal holes was confirmed because of these efforts. Many of the experiments conducted investigated the astronauts' adaptation to extended periods of microgravity . A typical day began at 6 a.m. Central Time Zone . Although the toilet was small and noisy, both veteran astronauts – who had endured earlier missions' rudimentary waste-collection systems – and rookies complimented it. The first crew enjoyed taking
4268-561: The United States. A permanent station was planned starting in 1988, but its funding was canceled and U.S. participation shifted to the International Space Station in 1993. Skylab had a mass of 199,750 pounds (90,610 kg) with a 31,000-pound (14,000 kg) Apollo command and service module (CSM) attached and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and several hundred life science and physical science experiments. It
4365-736: The agency announced that the lunar mapping and base construction missions examined by the AAP were being canceled. Only the Earth-orbiting missions remained, namely the Orbital Workshop and Apollo Telescope Mount solar observatory . The success of Apollo 8 in December 1968, launched on the third flight of a Saturn V, made it likely that one would be available to launch a dry workshop. Later, several Moon missions were canceled as well, originally to be Apollo missions 18 through 20 . The cancellation of these missions freed up three Saturn V boosters for
4462-601: The astronaut program, Brand worked at the West German F-104G Flight Test Center at Istres , France as an experimental test pilot and leader of a Lockheed flight test advisory group. One of the 19 pilot astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966, Brand initially was a crew member in the thermal vacuum chamber testing of the prototype command module (alongside astronauts Joe Engle and Dr. Joseph Kerwin ) and support crewman on Apollos 8 and 13 . During
4559-470: The birth of X-ray astronomy . Skylab had certain features to protect vulnerable technology from radiation . The window was vulnerable to darkening, and this darkening could affect experiment S190. As a result, a light shield that could be open or shut was designed and installed on Skylab. To protect a wide variety of films, used for a variety of experiments and for astronaut photography , there were five film vaults. There were four smaller film vaults in
4656-466: The crew stood down when it was decided that the problem did not require the rescue mission to be launched. As an astronaut, he held management positions relating to spacecraft development, acquisition, flight safety and mission operations. Brand flew on four space missions; Apollo–Soyuz , STS-5 , STS-41-B , and STS-35 . He logged 746 hours in space and commanded three missions. Brand was the last member of his astronaut class to remain active with NASA, and
4753-465: The environment and established comfortable working relationships with ground control. The figure (below) lists an overview of most major experiments. Skylab 4 carried out several more experiments, such as to observe Comet Kohoutek . Riccardo Giacconi shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for his study of X-ray astronomy , including the study of emissions from the Sun onboard Skylab, contributing to
4850-774: The first dedicated to astronomy, provided a rich return of science data with emphasis on observations of very active celestial objects. A night landing was made on December 10, to Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base. Mission duration was 215 hours. Brand is married to the former Beverly Ann Whitnel and has two daughters and four sons: Susan Nancy (born April 30, 1954), Stephanie Brand Lowery (born August 6, 1955), Patrick Richard (born March 22, 1958), Kevin Stephen (born December 1, 1963), Erik Ryan (May 11, 1981), and Dane Vance (born October 1, 1985). He currently resides with his wife in Tehachapi, California . In 2019, Brand donated 40 acres of land to
4947-677: The first flight checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and the Manipulator Foot Restraint with McCandless and Stewart performing two untethered extravehicular activities. Shuttle rendezvous sensors and computer programs were flight-tested for the first time. The 8-day flight of Challenger ended with the first landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984. Brand was training initially for STS-51-H on Atlantis in November 1985. That mission
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#17328477986075044-596: The first mission with a four-man crew, demonstrated the Shuttle as operational by the successful first deployment of two commercial communications satellites from the Shuttle's payload bay. The mission marked the Shuttle's first use of an upper-stage rocket for payloads, the Payload Assist Module (PAM-D). The satellites were deployed for Satellite Business Systems Corporation of McLean, Virginia, and TELESAT of Ottawa, Canada . Two FAI records for mass to altitude were set on
5141-404: The heaviest items that had to be returned at the end of each mission. The heaviest canisters weighed 40 kg and could hold up to 16,000 frames of film. There were two types of gyroscopes on Skylab. Control-moment gyroscopes (CMG) could physically move the station, and rate gyroscopes measured the rate of rotation to find its orientation. The CMG helped provide the fine pointing needed by
5238-518: The idea of building a smaller "wet workshop" based on the S-IVB, launched as the second stage of a Saturn IB. A number of S-IVB-based stations were studied at MSC from mid-1965, which had much in common with the Skylab design that eventually flew. An airlock would be attached to the hydrogen tank, in the area designed to hold the LM , and a minimum amount of equipment would be installed in the tank itself in order to avoid taking up too much fuel volume. Floors of
5335-546: The influence of external and internal disturbance torques, such as gravity gradient and aerodynamic disturbances and onboard astronaut motion. Skylab was the first large spacecraft to use big gyroscopes, capable of controlling its attitude. The control could also be used to help point the instruments. The gyroscopes took about ten hours to get spun up if they were turned off. There was also a thruster system to control Skylab's attitude. There were 9 rate-gyroscope sensors, 3 for each axis. These were sensors that fed their output to
5432-472: The interior of the station. Industrial design firm Raymond Loewy /William Snaith recommended emphasizing habitability and comfort for the astronauts by providing a wardroom for meals and relaxation and a window to view Earth and space, although astronauts were dubious about the designers' focus on details such as color schemes. Habitability had not previously been an area of concern when building spacecraft due to their small size and brief mission durations, but
5529-524: 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. In addition to the three crewed missions, there was a rescue mission on standby that had a crew of two, but could take five back down. Also of note was the three-man crew of Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT), who spent 56 days in 1972 at low-pressure on Earth to evaluate medical experiment equipment. This
5626-567: The lost micrometeoroid shield further complicated matters by becoming tangled in the remaining solar panel, preventing its full deployment and thus leaving the station with a huge power deficit. Immediately following Skylab's launch, Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center was deactivated, and construction proceeded to modify it for the Space Shuttle program, originally targeting a maiden launch in March 1979 . The crewed missions to Skylab would occur using
5723-597: The mission and are recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale . Apollo splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii , on July 25, and was recovered by USS New Orleans , completing a 217-hour mission. The mission almost ended in disaster when, during the final stages of the mission, the crew was exposed to near fatal amounts of nitrogen tetroxide gas. The reaction control system had been inadvertently left on during descent, and
5820-482: The mission. Numerous flight tests were performed to ascertain Shuttle performance. STS-5 was the last flight to carry the Development Flight Instrumentation package to support extensive flight testing. The STS-5 crew concluded the 5-day orbital flight of Columbia with the landing approach through a cloud deck to Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, California on November 16, 1982. Mission duration
5917-549: The much more expensive Saturn IB. The agency decided that the Air Force station was not large enough and that converting Apollo hardware for use with Titan would be too slow and too expensive. The DoD later canceled MOL in June 1969. Design work continued over the next two years, in an era of shrinking budgets. (NASA sought US$ 450 million for Apollo Applications in fiscal year 1967, for example, but received US$ 42 million.) In August 1967,
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#17328477986076014-606: The national park. [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government . [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . Skylab 5 Skylab was the United States' first space station , launched by NASA , occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It
6111-487: The orbital workshop had an empty mass of 2,398 pounds (1,088 kg). The four smaller vaults had combined mass of 1,545 lb (701 kg). The primary construction material of all five safes was aluminum. When Skylab re-entered there was one 180 pounds (82 kg) chunk of aluminum found that was thought to be a door to one of the film vaults. The large film vault was one of the heaviest single pieces of Skylab to re-enter Earth's atmosphere . The Skylab film vault
6208-445: The outside of the S-II stage. One problem with this proposal was that it required a dedicated Saturn V launch to fly the station. At the time the design was being proposed, it was not known how many of the then-contracted Saturn Vs would be required to achieve a successful Moon landing. However, several planned Earth-orbit test missions for the LM and CSM had been canceled, leaving a number of Saturn IBs free for use. Further work led to
6305-492: The pilot, Col. Guy Gardner ; three mission specialists, John M. Lounge , Dr. Robert A. Parker and Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman ; and two payload specialists , Dr. Samuel T. Durrance and Dr. Ronald A. Parise . The 13-ton payload consisted of the three ASTRO-1 ultraviolet (UV) telescopes and the Broadband X-ray Telescope. More than 200 Orbiter maneuvers were required to point the telescopes. This Shuttle flight, one of
6402-561: The poisonous fumes were sucked into the capsule as it drew in outside air. Brand briefly lost consciousness and all three crewmen required hospitalization in Hawaii for a number of weeks after landing. Brand was commander of Space Shuttle Columbia for STS-5 , the first fully operational flight of the Space Shuttle program , which launched on November 11, 1982. His crew comprised Colonel Robert Overmyer , pilot, and two mission specialists, Dr. Joseph P. Allen and Dr. William B. Lenoir . STS-5,
6499-498: The primary one would be used if possible, jettisoning the Skylab crew's CSM if necessary. While many within NASA believed that the rescue mission would occur, within hours of the failure of the second quad the agency canceled the rescue mission. Beyond NASA's conclusion that the failed quads would not disable the Skylab 3 CSM and the SPS fuel was uncontaminated, Brand and Lind had already shown during their training as backup Skylab crewmen that
6596-530: The rank of major . Employed as a civilian by the Lockheed Corporation from 1960 to 1966, he worked initially as a flight test engineer on the United States Navy 's P-3 Orion aircraft. In 1963, Brand graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (Class 33) and was assigned to Palmdale, California as an experimental test pilot on Canadian and German F-104 programs. Prior to selection to
6693-420: The rapidly forming NASA. Although concentrating on the Moon missions, von Braun also detailed an orbiting laboratory built out of a Horizon upper stage, an idea used for Skylab. A number of NASA centers studied various space station designs in the early 1960s. Studies generally looked at platforms launched by the Saturn V, followed up by crews launched on Saturn IB using an Apollo command and service module , or
6790-601: The rescue mission's crew, had it proven necessary. Although the rescue contingency was not flown, both astronauts made later spaceflights. Brand flew in 1975 as the Command Module Pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project before commanding three Space Shuttle missions: STS-5 in 1982, STS-41-B in 1984, and STS-35 in 1990. Lind would wait another decade before he flew as a mission specialist on STS-51-B in 1985. Skylab Rescue hardware in now on display at
6887-461: The risk of debris landing in populated areas, targeting the south Indian Ocean, which was partially successful. Debris showered Western Australia , and recovered pieces indicated that the station had disintegrated lower than expected. As the Skylab program drew to a close, NASA's focus had shifted to the development of the Space Shuttle. NASA space station and laboratory projects included Spacelab , Shuttle- Mir , and Space Station Freedom , which
6984-544: The same batch; if the SPS fuel was contaminated, the CSM might not be able to deorbit . NASA considered bringing the crew home immediately, but because the astronauts were safe on the station with ample supplies and because plans for a rescue flight existed, the mission continued while the Saturn IB rocket AS 208 with CSM 119 was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Launch Complex 39 for possible use. It
7081-574: The spacecraft's life-support adapter assembly – the projecting aerodynamic fairing that allows oxygen, water, and electricity to flow from the Service Module to the Command Module. This was in support of the design and construction of a similar system on the new Orion spacecraft , which resembles the Skylab Rescue configuration. Vance Brand Vance DeVoe Brand (born May 9, 1931)
7178-526: The station and safely return to Earth using the two functional RCS thruster quads, using the SPS engine once instead of twice as precaution. After the Skylab 4 launch, another rescue flight was assembled as a backup contingency. The Saturn IB rocket AS 209 was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Launch Complex 39 for possible use. It also used the CSM 119 Command Module that was to be launched with Brand and Lind. There were also plans for
7275-401: The station included a large waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets, and a heat radiator. Astronauts conducted numerous experiments aboard Skylab during its operational life. For the final two crewed missions to Skylab, NASA assembled a backup Apollo CSM/Saturn IB in case an in-orbit rescue mission was needed, but this vehicle was never flown. The station was damaged during launch when
7372-453: The station would be made from an open metal framework that allowed the fuel to flow through it. After launch, a follow-up mission launched by a Saturn IB would launch additional equipment, including solar panels, an equipment section and docking adapter, and various experiments. Douglas Aircraft Company , builder of the S-IVB stage, was asked to prepare proposals along these lines. The company had for several years been proposing stations based on
7469-661: 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 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
7566-469: The water tank. After dinner, which was scheduled for 6 p.m., crews performed household chores and prepared for the next day's experiments. Following lengthy daily instructions (some of which were up to 15 meters long) sent via teleprinter , the crews were often busy enough to postpone sleep. The station offered what a later study called "a highly satisfactory living and working environment for crews", with enough room for personal privacy. Although it had
7663-594: Was 122 hours. Brand commanded Challenger with a crew of five on the tenth flight of the Space Shuttle program, STS-41-B . The launch was on February 3, 1984. His crew included Commander Robert L. Gibson , pilot, and 3 Mission Specialists , Captain Bruce McCandless II , Dr. Ronald McNair , and Lt. Col. Robert L. Stewart . The flight accomplished the deployment of two Hughes HS-376 communications satellites which failed to reach desired geosynchronous orbits due to upper-stage rocket failures. This mission marked
7760-849: Was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and of the International Order of DeMolay . In 1964 he completed a Master of Science degree in business administration at UCLA . Brand was a commissioned officer and naval aviator with the United States Marine Corps from 1953 to 1957. His military assignments included a 15-month tour in Japan as a jet fighter pilot . Following his release from active duty, Brand continued service in United States Marine Corps Reserve and Air National Guard jet fighter squadrons until 1964, reaching
7857-429: Was a spaceflight analog test in full gravity, but Skylab hardware was tested and medical knowledge was gained. Originally intended to be visited by one 28–day and two 56–day missions for a total of 140 days, Skylab was ultimately occupied for 171 days and 13 hours during its three crewed expeditions, orbiting the Earth 2,476 times. Each of these extended the human record of 23 days for amount of time spent in space set by
7954-400: Was also important; early Apollo crews complained about its quality, and a NASA volunteer found it intolerable to live on the Apollo food for four days on Earth. Its taste and composition were unpleasant, in the form of cubes and squeeze tubes. Skylab food significantly improved on its predecessors by prioritizing palatability over scientific needs. For sleeping in space , each astronaut had
8051-434: Was at one point rolled out to LC-39B. NASA announced on August 4 that Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 backup crewmen Vance Brand and Don Lind would fly any rescue mission; they had immediately begun training for the flight once the second quad had failed on August 2. After engineers found that the leaks would not disable the spacecraft, the two men used simulators to test reentry using two quads. If ground personnel worked 24 hours
8148-408: Was bland and repetitive, and weightlessness caused utensils, food containers, and bits of food to float away; also, gas in their drinking water contributed to flatulence . After breakfast and preparation for lunch, experiments, tests and repairs of spacecraft systems and, if possible, 90 minutes of physical exercise followed; the station had a bicycle and other equipment, and astronauts could jog around
8245-765: Was born May 9, 1931, in Longmont, Colorado , and is the son of Rudolph William Brand (1903–1984) and Donna Mae Brand ( née DeVoe ; 1908–1998). He was active in Troop 64 of the Boy Scouts of America in Longmont, where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout . Brand graduated at Longmont High School in 1949, and at the University of Colorado at Boulder he received a Bachelor of Science degree in business in 1953 and another B.S. degree, in aeronautical engineering , in 1960. He
8342-535: Was canceled and re-manifested as STS-61-K , a Spacelab mission which would have launched on Columbia in October 1986. That mission was canceled by the Challenger disaster . Brand again commanded Columbia on the 38th flight of the shuttle, this time with a crew of seven, on STS-35 . The night launch on December 2, 1990, started a nine-day mission devoted to round-the-clock astronomical observations. Crewmen included
8439-519: Was documented in 1962 by the Douglas Aircraft Company . The Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA cooperated closely in many areas of space. In September 1963, NASA and the DoD agreed to cooperate in building a space station. The DoD wanted its own crewed facility, however, and in December 1963 it announced Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL), a small space station primarily intended for photo reconnaissance using large telescopes directed by
8536-474: Was extended beyond the 23 days set by the Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1 to 84 days by the Skylab 4 crew. Later plans to reuse Skylab were stymied by delays in the development of the Space Shuttle, and Skylab's decaying orbit could not be stopped. Skylab's atmospheric reentry began on July 11, 1979, amid worldwide media attention. Before re-entry, NASA ground controllers tried to adjust Skylab's orbit to minimize
8633-538: Was launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome , and the Apollo was launched 7½ hours later at the Kennedy Space Center . Two days later, the two spacecraft docked successfully. The linkup tested a new docking system and demonstrated international cooperation in space. There were 44 hours of docked joint activities which included four crew transfers between the Apollo and the Soyuz. Six records for docked and group flight were set on
8730-542: Was launched on his first space flight on July 15, 1975, as Apollo Command Module Pilot on the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project mission. This flight resulted in the historic meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts . Other crewmen on this nine-day Earth-orbital mission were Apollo Commander Thomas Stafford , Apollo Docking Module Pilot Deke Slayton , Soyuz Commander Alexei Leonov , and Soyuz Flight Engineer Valeri Kubasov . The Soyuz spacecraft
8827-501: Was launched uncrewed into low Earth orbit by a Saturn V rocket modified to be similar to the Saturn INT-21 , with the S-IVB third stage not available for propulsion because the orbital workshop was built out of it. This was the final flight for the rocket more commonly known for carrying the crewed Apollo Moon landing missions. Three subsequent missions delivered three-astronaut crews in
8924-576: Was merged into the International Space Station. Rocket engineer Wernher von Braun , science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke , and other early advocates of crewed space travel, expected until the 1960s that a space station would be an important early step in space exploration. Von Braun participated in the publishing of a series of influential articles in Collier's magazine from 1952 to 1954, titled " Man Will Conquer Space Soon! ". He envisioned
9021-491: Was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2 , Skylab 3 , and Skylab 4 . Operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory , Earth observation and hundreds of experiments . Skylab's orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia . As of 2024, Skylab was the only space station operated exclusively by
9118-406: Was removed and replaced with Skylab, but with the controlling Instrument Unit remaining in its standard position. Skylab was launched on May 14, 1973, by the modified Saturn V. The launch is sometimes referred to as Skylab 1. Severe damage was sustained during launch and deployment, including the loss of the station's micrometeoroid shield/sun shade and one of its main solar panels . Debris from
9215-751: Was the only Apollo-era astronaut to pilot the Space Shuttle in the post- Challenger era. Brand departed the Astronaut Office in 1992 to become Chief of Plans at the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) Joint Program Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base . In September 1994, he moved to California to become Assistant Chief of Flight Operations at the Dryden Flight Research Center , then Acting Chief Engineer, Deputy Director for Aerospace Projects, and Acting Associate Center Director for Programs. He retired from NASA in January 2008. Brand
9312-474: Was unexpectedly occupied by the "parasol" that replaced the missing meteorite shield, a few experiments were instead installed outside with the telescopes during spacewalks or shifted to the Earth-facing scientific airlock. Skylab 2 spent less time than planned on most experiments due to station repairs. On the other hand, Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 far exceeded the initial experiment plans, once the crews adjusted to
9409-455: Was used for storing film from various sources including the Apollo Telescope Mount solar instruments. Six ATM experiments used film to record data, and over the course of the missions over 150,000 successful exposures were recorded. The film canister had to be manually retrieved on crewed spacewalks to the instruments during the missions. The film canisters were returned to Earth aboard the Apollo capsules when each mission ended, and were among
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