STS-135 T-12 Days - Skylab 1973 - 1974

Skylab as Apollo approache

After the moon missions, NASA and the nation struggled to select the next challenge.  The Apollo/Saturn V was a powerful combination and held options for further exploration.  However, the huge budget that funded the moon program was past.  Using parts that had been built for Apollo, a few more missions were designed to expand our scientific knowledge and determine the limits of space travel.  NASA developed our first real space station from an upper stage of the Saturn V  They called it Skylab.  Then they used the Apollo SCM to ferry astronauts to and from Skylab in three missions spanning about 9 months in 1973 and early 1974.

In comparison to all prior spacecraft, Skylab was huge, check out the drawing.  The astronauts had room for many experiments and living facilities to work for extended periods.  The third mission lasted 84 days, may times longer than prior records.  During the Skylab flights we learned to make repairs on spacecraft already in flight,  It included many EVAs to perform experiments and make repairs.  The most critical repair was in the first mission to fix a stuck solar cell wing that failed to deploy.  Without it deployed, the Skylab would have been unable to conduct the subsequent missions.

Cut-away view of Skylab, docked with Apollo CSM

As much as Skylab was advancing our understanding of living in space.  It was expensive.  The space shuttle program was getting underway and it needed the funds.  The third and final Skylab mission concluded in February 1974.  There would be one final Apollo flight before the space shuttle.  Although Skylab had supplies to support astronauts for over a year, we could not afford the cost of that program.  We were ending an era in space and the next would be years away.

Our first space station had been a success, even if only for a brief time.

By the way, in 1972, about this time, the HP-35 became the first pocket sized scientific calculator.  It cost $400, then.  Although expensive, it spelled the end of the slide rule and became the standard that all engineers had to have.  Advances occurred so fast, that by 1975, the HP-35 was discontinued for more powerful models.  My first was the HP-55.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-55