Launch Control Center During a Skylab Launch

FSCH00252.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

Launch Control Center During a Skylab Launch

Alternative Title

Launch Control During a Skylab Launch

Subject

John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Merritt Island (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Skylab Program

Description

Launch Control Center at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Merritt Island, Florida, during a Skylab launch. As Project Apollo was winding down and the final three missions (Apollo 18, Apollo 19, and Apollo 20) were canceled, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) looked for ways to repurpose launch vehicles and other equipment. Out of this, Skylab and three space science missions were born. Skylab was conceived by famed rocket designer, Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), to use an unused upper-stage fuel tank and convert it to an orbital laboratory. This was necessitated by NASA's budget being slashed. With the tank becoming the basis of the space station, NASA added solar arrays, a docking adapter, and a space observatory. The Skylab missions were constituted of one mission to put the station in space (Skylab 1), using a modified and last Saturn V to launch, and three crewed missions (Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4) to occupy the lab and perform science, using the smaller Saturn IB booster to launch the three astronaut crews. When launched on May 14, 1973, the station encountered problems immediately. A micrometeoroid shield prematurely deployed and tore off one of the two main solar arrays. NASA engineers went to work and were able to save Skylab and the three crewed missions. Each of the subsequent missions set what were then endurance records for living in space and conducted substantial space science experiments. NASA tried to keep Skylab in orbit after Skylab 4 (SL-4) and until the Space Shuttle could boast its orbit, but with a decaying orbit, it crashed on July 11, 1979.

Source

Original black and white photographic print: Larry Summers Collection.

Date Created

ca. 1973

Contributor

Is Format Of

Digital reproduction of original black and white photographic print.

Is Part Of

Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

Format

image/jpg

Extent

138 KB

Medium

1 black and white photographic print

Type

Still Image

Coverage

Launch Control Center, John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida

Accrual Method

Donation

Mediator

History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher

Rights Holder

Copyright to this resource is held by Larry Summers and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Curator

Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura

Digital Collection

External Reference

"Skylab, Birth of the Modern Space Station: Part I - The History of Sky | NASA." National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Accessed August 12. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_skylab1.html.
"Skylab, Our First Space Station - ch2." 2015. SP-400 NASA - Skylab, Our First Space Station. Accessed September 25. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch2.htm.
Howell, Elizabeth. 2013. "Skylab: First U.S. Space Station." Space.com. February 1. http://www.space.com/19607-skylab.html.

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

1 black and white photographic print

Citation

“Launch Control Center During a Skylab Launch,” RICHES, accessed October 31, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/5852.

Locations

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