Skylab–Part II
Carrying the largest collection of scientific hardware ever flown in space, Skylab and the astronauts carried out more than 250 scientific investigations in every field that could benefit from the unique vantage point that Skylab offered. Life sciences, solar physics, earth observations, materials science were the four areas in which experiments were carried out. The astronauts monitored one another’s bodily condition throughout their stay in orbit–scheduled blood and urine samples, as well as experiments on the cardiovascular system and organs of balance were carried out. The crew’s heart rates were monitored by electrocardiographs during rest periods and when they were pedaling on the bicycle ergometer.
The main means of exercise by the crew was the bicycle ergometer. However, they also devised some of their own such as running around the walls of the forward dome, using centrifugal force to keep them going–a favorite exercise. The main reason that the astronauts on the last two Skylab missions were so fit was the increased exercise such as these examples, with their bodies adapting to normal gravity shortly after spending months in a state of weightlessness.
From the telescope package in the center of the Apollo Telescope Mount, a wealth of data was collected about the Sun. Working in collaboration with hundreds of solar scientists over the earth, the astronauts acquired over 180,000 images of the Sun’s disc with a wide range of wave lengths.
Witnessing some of the largest prominences, such as fountains of searing hot gas arcing above the Sun’s surface that was ever recorded, was the fortune of the crew. More data was acquired by the Skylab regarding the Sun than any of the earth-bound astronauts had ever done in centuries in ten months of observations.The astronauts on Skylab 3 who were working in the field of natural science, looked into problems that spiders would face in space. Skylab carried out this student experiment to determine if space spiders could spin webs to catch space flies. Two spiders named Arabella and Anita could spin their webs with only slightly less expertise than they did on earth.
Early in 1974, Skylab 4 crew vacated the space station. NASA hoped that another crew would make a visit in the space shuttle at a later time. However, Skylab original height (270 miles) slowed it down and it descended into a lower and lower orbit as time went by. Because Skylab has no engines of its own, there was nothing NASA could do about it. And in 1979, Skylab was orbiting too close to the atmosphere and the space shuttle couldn’t be used to drive it into a higher orbit. Earth’s population became concerned as Skylab descended. It was calculated that it would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere within days of the tenth anniversary of Apollo 11’s lift-off to the moon. It was calculated that as Skylab started to break up, it would scatter debris in a “footprint” 4,000 miles long and 100 miles wide. There was also a 152:1 chance that a human being could be struck.
The last days in orbit were tracked meticulously by the world-wide network of NASA and NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) space tracking stations. Mission control at Houston ordered Skylab’s altitude jets to start it tumbling to try and delay its re-entry–because of the maneuver, Skylab did not hit the atmosphere. It broke up over Western Australia where the observation of spectacular fireworks displayed as the disintegrating Skylab streaked overhead.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 2:23 am and is filed under Mission History, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
