The Discovery Enterprise: Skylab - America's First Space Station

Today on Discovery Enterprise we commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the
launching of America's first space station - Skylab.

Forty years ago today on May 14th, 1973 Skylab, America's first Space
Station, was sent into orbit aboard a Saturn V rocket booster from pad 39A
at Kennedy Space Centre. Skylab consisted of a modified S-IVB stage from a
Saturn IB, providing a cavernous interior for its three-man crews. In the
end, Skylab proved highly successful, but the project could have ended
disastrously, within minutes of launch: "Almost immediately, technical
problems developed due to vibrations during liftoff. A critical meteoroid
shield ripped off taking one of the craft's two solar panels with it, and a
piece of the shield wrapped around the other panel keeping it from
deploying. Skylab was manoeuvred so its Apollo Telescope Mount, or ATM,
solar panels faced the sun to provide as much electricity as possible.
Because of the loss of the meteoroid shield, however, this positioning
caused workshop temperatures to rise to 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees F).
The launch of Skylab 2 was postponed while NASA engineers, in an intensive
10-day period, developed procedures and trained the crew to make the
workshop habitable. At the same time, engineers "rolled" Skylab to lower the
temperature of the workshop." (NASA mission notes)

To mark the occasion we present three video features for your viewing
pleasure - Skylab: Space Station One, NASA's 40th Anniversary of Skylab and
Skylab - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator.

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