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SP-4208 LIVING AND WORKING IN SPACE: A HISTORY OF SKYLAB

Contents


Cutaway drawing of Skylab.

Individual components and their respective characteristics.

Cutaway drawing of Skylab.

Individual components and their respective characteristics.

 

PREFACE
 
 
PART I. FROM CONCEPT THROUGH DECISION, 1962 - 1969
 
 
1. WHAT TO DO FOR AN ENCORE: POST-APOLLO PLANS.
Directions for Manned Spaceflight.
Space Stations after 1962.
Sizing Up a Space Station.
Air Force Seeks Role in Space.
President Calls for NASA's Plans.
Mueller Opens Apollo Applications Program Office.
 
2. FROM SPENT STAGE TO ORBITAL CLUSTER, 1965 - 1966.
Early Proposals to Use Spent Stages.
Marshall Sponsors the Spent Stage.
Concept to Design: Bounding the Problem.
Concept to Design: Defining the Workshop.
The Cluster Concept.
 
3. APOLLO APPLICATIONS: "WEDNESDAY's CHILD".
Initial Plans and Budget.
Seeking New Justification.
AAP vs. MOL.
Center Roles and Missions.
Presidential Approval.
 
4. A SCIENCE PROGRAM FOR MANNED SPACEFLIGHT.
Science in Space to 1965.
Organizing for Manned Space Science.
Scientists and Man in Space.
Solar Observatories in Orbit.
Experiments for the Workshop.
More Advice from the Scientific Community.
 
5. YEARS OF UNCERTAINTY, 1967-1969.
Impact of the Fire.
Problems with the Cluster Missions.
AAP under Internal Attack.
Shrinking Budgets and Shrinking Program.
The Wet Workshop Goes Dry.
Retrospect and Prospect.
 
 
PART II. DEVELOPMENT AND PREPARATIONS TO FLY, 1969 - 1973.
 
 
6. MANAGING THE DESIGN PHASE.
Moving Out of Apollo's Shadow.
A Second Skylab.
Management Tools.
The Problem of Changes.
The Problem of Reentry.
 
7. LIVING AND WORKING IN SPACE.
Habitability of Early Spacecraft.
Habitability of the Wet Workshop.
Contribution of Industrial Designers.
Habitability of the Dry Workshop.
The Food System.
Marshall Calls for a Reassessment.
 
8. THE MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS.
Defining the Experiments.
A Space Toilet.
Building the Medical Hardware.
A Simulation and What Came of It.
 
9. STUDYING THE SUN.
Solar Instruments.
Apollo Telescope Mount.
Mission Plans and Operating Procedures.
Technical Progress and Problems.
 
10. LATE ADDITIONS TO THE EXPERIMENTS.
Observing the Earth.
Earth-Resource Experiments.
Selecting the Investigators.
Flight Planning and Instrument Development.
Student Experiments.
 
11. PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER.
More Work for Contractors.
Test Program.
Module Development: Airlock and Docking Adapter .
Trainers and Mockups.
Module Development: The Workshop.
Reentry Reexamined.
 
12. PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT.
Defining Center Responsibilities.
Operations Planning in Houston.
Huntsville Organizes for Mission Support.
Test Pilot vs. Scientist-Astronaut.
Crew Training.
 
13. LAUNCHING SKYLAB.
Selecting the Launch Complex.
The Milkstool.
Preparing a Launch Plan.
Facility Modifications.
Handling the Experiments.
Relations with Huntsville.
Problems of New Hardware.
From Certification Review to Liftoff.
 
 
PART III. THE MISSIONS AND RESULTS, 1973 - 1979
 
 
14. SAVING SKYLAB.
The Accident.
Maneuvering for Minimum Heat, Maximum Power.
Assessing the Heat's Effect.
Devising a Sunshade.
Plans to Increase Skylab's Power.
Launch and Docking.
Accomplishing the Repair.
Investigation Board.
 
15. THE FIRST MISSION.
Private Communications.
Physical Fitness in Space.
Flight Planning: The Astronauts' View.
Fight Planning: The Investigators' View.
The Long-Awaited Solar Flare.
Critique of the First Mission.
 

16. THE SECOND MISSION.

Motion Sickness.
A Rescue Mission?.
Deploying the Twin-Pole Sunshade.
Solar Viewing.
Earth-Resource and Corollary Experiments.
More Mechanical Problems.
A Routine Day in Space.
A Team of Overachievers.
 
17. THE LAST MISSION.
Changes to the Mission.
An Error in Judgment.
Activation.
Getting to Work.
First Month's Accomplishment
A Comet for Christmas.
Carr Calls for an Assessment.
Around the World for 84 Days.
Coming Back.
 
18. RESULTS.
Medical Findings.
Solar Observation.
Earth Observations.
NASA's Own Experiments.
Comet Observations and Student Experiment Skylab Science: An Assessment.
 
19. WHAT GOES UP . . .
Plans to Save the Workshop.
Regaining Control of Skylab.
Last days of Skylab.
 
APPENDIXES
A. Summary of the Missions.
B. Major Contractors.
C. International Aeronautical Federation World Records Set by Skylab.
D. Experiments.
E. Astronauts' Biographies.
F. Comet Kohoutek.
G. Joint Observing Program 2, Active Regions.
 
 
SOURCE NOTES.
INDEX.
THE AUTHORS.


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