The First Manned Skylab Mission

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The First Manned Skylab Mission

SL-2 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 8:00 am CDT May 25, 1973, with crewmembers Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr., Joseph P. Kerwin, and Paul J. Weitz, and rendezvoused with Skylab on the fifth revolution.

the first Skylab crew

The crew's first task was to perform a fly-around inspection of the Skylab module to determine the extent of damage suffered during the module's launch. During the inspection Weitz stood in the open hatch of the command-service module while Kerwin held him by the legs and Conrad maneuvered the command-service module. Conrad reported that "...it looks like the meteoroid shield at the upper thick panel...has wrapped around it just slightly. Now my guess is that our easiest thing to do is just go to the end and try to deploy it." During the 33-minute stand-up extravehicular activity (SEVA), Weitz attempted but was unable to free the jammed solar wing. The crew redocked with Skylab and spent the night in the command-service module.

the damaged solar wing and meteoroid shield
the damaged solar wing and meteoroid shield

The next day, using procedures practiced only two days before, the crew deployed a parasol sunshade to replace the meteroid shield that had been torn away during launch. By June 4, temperatures inside the workshop were down to 75 degrees.

On June 7, using procedures practiced on earth and then radioed to Skylab, Conrad and Kerwin spent about 4 hours and 10 minutes in extravehicular activity to free the jammed solar wing. The procedures were successful, and within hours the electric power supply was sufficient enough that a mission plan close to the original was authorized.

Despite having to take time to repair the meteoroid shield and solar array wing, and having less than a full electrical supply, the first Skylab crew managed to accomplish most of its objectives:

Data was obtained on some 80 percent of planned solar experiments, including a major scientific accomplishment in the monitoring of a solar flare.
11 of the 14 planned Earth resources data runs were accomplished.
Data was taken on all scheduled experiments except those involving the scientific airlock (through which the sunshade had been deployed) or those curtailed by power or other limitations.
All 16 medical experiments were conducted, and the time history of man's adaptation to zero g was obtained for the first time.
Data was obtained on five student investigations, with two others rescheduled for the second mission.

Splashdown occurred 28 days 50 minutes after liftoff, on June 22nd, about 830 miles southwest of San Diego, California.

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SKC Films Library >> Technology >> Astronautics >> Manned Programs and Missions

This page was last updated on 05/27/2017.