{"id":320489,"date":"2023-03-14T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T21:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?post_type=migration&p=320489"},"modified":"2023-09-25T12:38:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T16:38:11","slug":"50-years-ago-engineers-prepare-rockets-crew-trains-for-first-skylab-missions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-engineers-prepare-rockets-crew-trains-for-first-skylab-missions\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Years Ago: Engineers Prepare Rockets, Crew Trains for First Skylab Missions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In March 1973, with just two months remaining until the launch of Skylab, America\u2019s first space station, workers at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida continued to prepare the two Saturn rockets for the initial launches. In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), they continued testing of the Saturn V rocket with the Skylab 1 space station mounted on top to prepare it for its mid-April rollout to Launch Pad 39A and May 14 launch. At Launch Pad 39B, engineers prepared the Saturn IB to launch the Skylab 2 first crew on May 15. Astronauts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/conrad_charles.pdf?emrc=2dbaa3\">Charles \u201cPete\u201d Conrad<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/kerwin_joseph_0.pdf?emrc=b318a1\">Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/weitz_paul_j._deceased_pdf_47_kb.pdf?emrc=291540\">Paul J. Weitz<\/a> intensified their training as their launch and 28-day mission approached. NASA released the crew patches for all three Skylab crewed missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_1_19730312_ksc-73p-111.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"229\" height=\"180\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_2_19730312_ksc-73p-112.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"226\" height=\"181\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_3_19730312_ksc-73p-109.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"228\" height=\"180\"><br><em>Three views of technicians inspecting foot restraints and handrails for use by spacewalking astronauts on the exterior of the Apollo Telescope Mount, stacked atop the Saturn V rocket in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Engineers in the VAB spent the month of March testing the Saturn V launch vehicle and loading provisions and other items into the Skylab workshop. Most of the equipment and consumables needed by all three crews had to launch prepositioned inside the space station since the Apollo capsules that brought the crews to orbit had limited resupply capability. By the end of March, technicians had loaded 70 percent of the needed provisions. Engineers also finished testing some of the scientific equipment, such as the earth resources cameras, and inspected the outside of the Apollo Telescope Mount. On March 30, the entire launch team completed a simulated countdown and liftoff of the workshop during the Flight Readiness Test, the last major milestone before the vehicle left the assembly building. Following the simulated liftoff, the exercise continued for four days, simulating the initial workshop on-orbit operations. The Skylab 2 astronauts participated in the simulated launches of both the workshop and their own spacecraft, the activation of the space station, and initial orbital operations. The tests led up to the planned mid-April rollout of the Saturn V to Pad 39A. Meanwhile, following the rollout of the Skylab 2 Saturn IB to Launch Pad 39B on Feb. 26, engineers powered up the Apollo spacecraft on March 5 to conduct spacecraft combined systems tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_4_sl-2_crew_training_mar_1_1973_s73-20236.jpg\" alt=\"crew_training_mar_1_1973\" width=\"290\" height=\"185\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_5_sl-2_crew_training_mar_1_1973_s73-20774.jpg\" alt=\"crew_training_mar_1_1973\" width=\"119\" height=\"185\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_6_s73-20759.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"284\" height=\"185\"><br><em>Left: Skylab 2 astronauts Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin, left, Paul J. Weitz, and Charles \u201cPete\u201d Conrad eat a Skylab meal in the wardroom in the Skylab Orbital Workshop trainer at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Middle: Conrad trains in the Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA). Right: Conrad trains on materials processing equipment in the MDA.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_7_sl-2_training_lbnp_mar_1_1973_s73-20276.jpg\" alt=\"training_lbnp_mar_1_1973\" width=\"148\" height=\"220\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_8_s73-20716.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"305\" height=\"220\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_9_sl-2_crew_training_conrad_kerwin_mar_1_1973_s73-20678.jpg\" alt=\"crew_training_conrad_kerwin_mar_1_1973\" width=\"142\" height=\"220\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_10_s73-20205.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"146\" height=\"220\"><br><em>Left: Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin, standing, operates the controls as Paul J. Weitz undergoes a practice run in the Lower Body Negative Pressure device. Middle left: Weitz trains with the ultraviolet stellar astronomy experiment. Middle right: Charles \u201cPete\u201d Conrad trains as a subject for the human vestibular function experiment as Kerwin trains as the operator. Right: Weitz prepares for a test run on the bicycle ergometer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Skylab 2 crew continued extensive training in the Skylab 1-g training modules in the Mission Simulation and Training Facility in Building 5 of NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The training included working the various systems of Skylab\u2019s multiple modules, the daily life activities such as meal preparation and consumption in the wardroom, and the various experiments in biomedical sciences, materials sciences, solar physics, and Earth observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_11_s72-52630.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"233\" height=\"230\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_12_s72-51123.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"231\" height=\"230\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/skylab_l-2_months_13_s72-53094.jpg\" alt=\"skylab_l-2_months\" width=\"222\" height=\"230\"><br><em>The crew patches for the first, left, second, and third crewed Skylab missions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA released the official patches for each of the crew missions, with the astronauts\u2019 names printed on each one. Each patch included symbols of the main scientific aspects of the Skylab program, namely studies of human physiology, Earth observations, and solar physics. The first mission\u2019s patch showed the space station silhouetted against a stylized Earth eclipsing the Sun. The patch of the second mission displayed Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Vitruvian Man in front of two hemispheres representing the Sun and the Earth. And the third mission\u2019s patch had stylized figures representing humans, a tree, and an atom. Unfortunately, the patches became the source of endless confusion over the numbering of the three missions. NASA officially designated the space station as Skylab 1 and the three crewed missions as Skylab 2, 3, and 4. However, some mission documentation labeled the crew flights as Skylab Missions 1, 2, and 3, and the crew designed their patches based on that. By the time managers discovered the miscommunication, the astronauts\u2019 clothing with the incorrect patches had already been manufactured and stowed aboard the space station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To be continued \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>World events in March 1973:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 1 \u2013 Capitol Records releases Pink Floyd\u2019s album \u201cThe Dark Side of the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 7 \u2013 Czech astronomer Lubo\u0161 Kohoutek discovers the comet that bore his name and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/skylab-4-final-mission-launches-to-skylab\/\">observed by the Skylab 4 astronauts<\/a> in December 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 8 \u2013 The Eisenhower Tunnel opens in Colorado, at the time the world\u2019s highest and the longest in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 12 \u2013 The final episode of \u201cRowan and Martin\u2019s Laugh-In\u201d airs on NBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 14 \u2013 North Vietnam releases an additional 108 American prisoners of war, including future U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate John S. McCain, captured in October 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 21 \u2013 Pieces of the Goodwill Rock, the last lunar sample collected by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-apollo-17-post-mission-activities\/\">Apollo 17<\/a>, sent to all 50 states and U.S. territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 29 \u2013 The last American combat troops depart from South Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 30 \u2013 Bonnie Tiburzi becomes the first female commercial airline pilot when American Airlines hires her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>John Uri<br>NASA Johnson Space Center<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In March 1973, with just two months remaining until the launch of Skylab, America\u2019s first space station, workers at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida continued to prepare the two Saturn rockets for the initial launches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":321977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2671,2724],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[12664,11995],"coauthors":[11996],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"50 Years Ago: Engineers Prepare Rockets, Crew Trains for First Skylab 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