Skylab's unprecedented success is a tribute to the space activities of the past in that it was a direct product of the technology, design concepts, ground and flight hardware, facilities, and experienced team of people from earlier programs and activities. This vast resource of knowledge and experience, coupled with the commitment to establish a space station of significant size and capability, enabled NASA to produce exciting results in engineering, physics, astronomy, earth resources, biomedicine, and space processing far greater than had ever been anticipated.
This volume presents the dramatic story of Skylab's design, development, launch, and successful operation.
The vast accomplishments of Skylab-in solar and stellar astronomy, in the detailed study of our planet from the incomparable vantage of orbit, in using the exciting new laboratory tool of weightlessness, and in proving that man can work productively in space for extended periods-are almost too profound to grasp. The data on solar physics contains new and valuable information on the Sun's corona and the solar winds and opens up new concepts to be explored in future solar astronomy programs. In the area of technology, the data from Skylab's space processing experiments opens a completely new dimension in the field of materials processing. Crystals grown in Skylab have shown structural perfection, uniformity, and relative size not attainable on Earth, and the experiments performed with metal alloys and composites have aroused keen interest in future possibilities of materials processing under conditions of weightlessness.
The finest accomplishment of Skylab was the demonstration of the uniqueness of man in space in solving problems and overcoming obstacles in the face of extreme adversity. Shortly after liftoff of the unmanned Skylab space station, serious problems developed starting with the loss of the micrometeorite shield, which resulted in a total loss of heat balance in the workshop and a substantial loss in the solar power generation system. Facing what could have been a total loss of our first space station, the Skylab team-both the flight crews and the thousands of engineers, technicians, and support personnel on the ground- converted these awe-inspiring challenges to opportunities that demonstrated man's role in space far beyond the most ambitious dreams of most space planners.
275 pages. Over 175 photos, illustrations and diagrams, most in full color. Contents hyperlinked for easy navigation.
