Episode 73: Space Stations, Part I

 

The post-Apollo space missions of the 1970s revolved around space stations and the Russians decided if they couldn't be the first to the Moon, they would focus on gaining space station primacy.

The Soviet Salyut space station would built to function with Soviet Soyuz spaceships, but the first attempt to send a crew to Salyut was a failure. The crew couldn't achieve a hard dock with the station and after several attempts, the mission was aborted. The second crew had success, but disaster struck when the crew returned to Earth. The Soyuz capsule depressurized. None of the cosmonauts were wearing space suits and all three died before reentering Earth's atmosphere. These are the only three people to die above the Karmen line, the official point where outer space begins. The Soyuz capsule was redesigned to allow the crew to wear pressure suits going forward.

Several Salyut stations were launched during the 1970s. Roughly half were open scientific missions while the other half were secretive military mission, likely focused on taking surveillance photos of Western targets.

While the Soviets established space station primacy, the United States get launch its owns space station, called Skylab, made with materials left over from the Apollo program. 

There were a total of four Skylab launches. The first launch was an unmanned mission to put the station in orbit and was a near disaster. Problems with the launch left the station nearly powerless and virtually dead in space. The second mission - carrying the station's first crew - was delayed by two weeks while engineers devised a way to fix the repair the stricken station.

The patch for the first Skylab crew was designed by Kelly Freas, a well-known artist highly regarded in the science fiction community. It features Skylab above the earth with the sun in the background, eclipsed by the Earth. The upper left quadrant of the emblem reads Skylab I and the lower right quadrant lists the crewmembers.

Skylab's first crew consisted of science pilot Joe Kerwin (left), mission commander Pete Conrad, and pilot Paul Weitz. A good chunk of their 28 day mission consisted of space walks to repair Skylab, but they also found time to study the Earth and the Sun, and conduct a few medical experiments with the crew serving as the guinea pigs.

Now that astronauts were staying in space for longer stretched of time, NASA improved the food that was available to the astronauts (including magnetized heating trays to keep the food warm).

Space Showers...

...and Space Haircuts were also a thing now.

Pete Conrad, a member of NASA's second astronaut class, had a colorful personality but was also a consummate professional (his personal motto was "If you can't be good, be colorful!"). He served on two Gemini missions, commanded Apollo 12 and became the third person to walk on the moon, and commanded the first Skylab crew. After retiring from NASA he remained active in the aviation community and helped set a record for an around-the-world flight in a Learjet in 1996.

Sadly, in 1999, he died in a motorcycle crash while wearing a helmet and operating within the speed limit. Navy Captain Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 11, Grave 113-3.

The second Skylab crew consisted of scientist pilot Owen Garriott, pilot Jack Lousma, and commander Al Bean. Thanks to the hard work of the first crew, this second crew did not have to continue the repairs of the station and were able to focus completely on the science during its 60-day mission.

The mission's insignia featured Leonard da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man as its focal point, representing the mission’s medical experiments. In the background is a disk that is half sun and half Earth to represent the experiments done on the flight. The patch has a white background with the crew’s names arcing across the top and Skylab II at the six o’clock position. The patch has a red, white, and blue boarder. The wives of the crew secretly had an alternate graphic made of a “universal woman” with their first names in place of the crew’s. Stickers with this image on it were put in lockers aboard the Command Module to surprise the crew.

The final Skylab crew consisted entirely of space rookies and ran into some initial problems with balancing work. Mission commander Jerry Carr (left), science pilot Ed Gibson (center), and pilot Bill Pogue (right) felt mission control was pressing them too hard and mission control felt they were not working as hard as they should. After a few weeks of frustration they two sides talked it out, came to consensus, and in the end, got more work done than they were scheduled to during their 84-day mission... though none of the crew members were ever given another space mission.

When this final crew boarded the station, they found they had company - the previous crew had left three dummies on board wearing flight suits including the new crew's names and insignia.

This final crew's insignia The symbols in the final crew's patch refer to the three major area of investigation proposed in the mission. The three represents man's natural environment and relates directly to advancing the study of Earth resources. The hydrogen atom, as the basic building block of the universe, represents man's exploration of the physical world, the application of knowledge, and the development of technology. Since the sun is composed primarily of hydrogen, it is appropriate that the symbol refers to the study of solar physics. The human silhouette represents mankind and the human capacity to direct technology with a wisdom tempered by regard for the natural environment. It also directly relates to the medical studies done on the astronauts themselves.. The rainbow, adopted from the biblical story of the flood, symbolizes the promise that is offered mankind. It embraces the man and extends to the tree and hydrogen atom emphasizing mankind's pivotal role in the conciliation of technology with nature. 

Bill Pogue wore the first automatic chronograph watch in space and it was * gasps in horror * a Seiko and not an Omega, even though the first automatic Omega came out two years earlier. Come on man, it's not even a Grand Seiko!