Skylab 2

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Skylab I

Mission insignia

Mission statistics

Mission name

Skylab I

Spacecraft mass

CSM: 19,979 kg

Crew size

Call sign

Skylab 2

Launch pad

Kennedy Space Center, Florida
LC 39B

Launch date

May 25, 1973
13:00:00 UTC

Landing

June 22, 1973
13:49:48 UTC
24°45′N, 127°2′W

Mission duration

28d/00:49:49

Number of orbits

404

Apogee

438 km

Perigee

428 km

Orbital period

93.2 min

Orbital inclination

50.0°

Distance traveled

~18,500,000 km

Crew photo

L-R: Kerwin, Conrad, and Weitz

Related missions

Previous mission	Next mission
Apollo 17	Skylab 3

Skylab 2 (also SL-2 and SLM-1^[1]) was the first manned mission to Skylab, the first U.S. orbital space station. The mission was launched on a Saturn IB rocket and carried a three-person crew to the station. The name Skylab 2 also refers to the vehicle used for that mission. The Skylab 2 mission established a record for human spaceflight duration and its crew were the first space station occupants ever to come home alive (since the Salyut 1 crew died during reentry).

1 Crew
- 1.1 Backup Crew
- 1.2 Support Crew
2 Mission parameters
- 2.1 Space walks
- 2.2 See also
3 Mission highlights
4 Mission insignia
5 Spacecraft location
6 References

[edit] Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

Charles Conrad, Jr (4) - Commander
Paul J. Weitz (1) - Pilot
Joseph P. Kerwin (1) - Science Pilot

[edit] Backup Crew

Russell L. Schweickart - Commander
Bruce McCandless, II - Pilot
F. Story Musgrave - Science Pilot

[edit] Support Crew

[edit] Mission parameters

Mass: 19,979 kg
Maximum Altitude: 440 km
Distance: 18,536,730.9 km
Launch Vehicle: Saturn IB

Perigee: 428 km
Apogee: 438 km
Inclination: 50°
Period: 93.2 min

Docked: May 26, 1973 - 21:56:00 UTC
Undocked: June 22, 1973 - 19:48:07 UTC
Time Docked: 26 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes, 7 seconds,

[edit] Space walks

Weitz - EVA 1 - (stand up EVA - CM side hatch)
EVA 1 Start: May 26, 1973, 00:40 UTC
EVA 1 End: May 26, 01:20 UTC
Duration: 40 minutes

Conrad and Kerwin - EVA 2
EVA 2 Start: June 7, 1973, 15:15 UTC
EVA 2 End: June 7, 18:40 UTC
Duration: 3 hours, 25 minutes

Conrad and Weitz - EVA 3
EVA 3 Start: June 19, 1973, 10:55 UTC
EVA 3 End: June 19, 12:31 UTC
Duration: 1 hour, 36 minutes

[edit] See also

[edit] Mission highlights

S-IVB-206 which was used for the Skylab 2 flight

Skylab Station Viewed by Skylab 2 Command Module

Launched on May 25, 1973 the first Skylab crew's main job first was to repair the space station. Skylab's meteorite and sunshield and one of its solar arrays had torn loose during launch, and the remaining primary solar array was jammed. Due to concerns that high temperatures inside the workshop — the result of no sunshield — would release toxic materials and ruin on-board film and food, the crew had to work fast.

After a failed attempt to deploy the stuck solar panel, they set up a "parasol" as a replacement sunshade. The "fix" worked, and temperatures inside dropped low enough that the crew could enter. Two weeks later Conrad and Kerwin conducted a space-walk, and after a struggle, were able to free the stuck solar panel and begin electricity flowing to their new "home."

For nearly a month they made further repairs to the workshop, conducted medical experiments, gathered solar and Earth science data and returned some 29,000 frames of film with a total of 392 hours of experiments. The Skylab 2 astronauts spent 28 days in space, which doubled the previous U.S. record.

The mission lasted until June 22, 1973. Skylab 2 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 9.6 km from the recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga.

The mission set the records for the longest duration manned spaceflight, greatest distance traveled and greatest mass docked in space. Conrad set the record for most time in space for an astronaut.

[edit] Mission insignia

The Skylab Expedition 1 patch was designed by Frank Kelly Freas, a well-known artist highly regarded in the science fiction field, whose name was suggested to NASA by science fiction author and editor Ben Bova. The insignia features Skylab above the earth with the sun in the background. In an article for Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact magazine, Freas said, "Among the suggestions the astronauts had made was the idea of a solar eclipse as seen from Skylab. It soon became clear that this idea would solve several problems at once: it pointed up the solar study function of Skylab, it would give me the large circular shape of the Earth as counterpoint to the angularity of the cluster, and it would establish firmly the connection of Skylab to the Earth. In addition, it would give a chance to get the necessary high contrast for good visibility of the tiny finished patch. ... I made several studies of cloud patterns on the planet, reducing them finally to very conventionalized swirls. The Skylab cluster was simplified and simplified again, till it became simply a black form with a white edgelight to set it off."