Skylab: First U.S. Space Station Skylab: First U.S. Space Station By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | February 1, 2013 06:40pm ET MORE The Skylab Orbital Workshop experienced a failure that led to a replacement shield to protect against solar heating. Credit: NASA. Skylab was the first space station operated by the United States. It spent six years orbiting Earth until its decaying orbit caused it to re-enter the atmosphere. It scattered debris over the Indian Ocean and sparsely settled areas of Western Australia. Three crews successfully lived on board the station for several months each. The last crew spent 84 days in orbit — an American record that stood until the shuttle era. [ Photos: Skylab, the 1st U.S. Space Station ] Rocky start Various NASA centers had kicked around ideas for a space station for years before Skylab launched. However, the agency was very focused on the space race and moonshots that dominated public consciousness in the 1960s. Money for other endeavors was not as available.

As Apollo began to wind down in the early 1970s, NASA began an Apollo Applications Program to fly unused hardware from the moon program. One idea, proposed by famous Apollo rocket engineer Wernher von Braun , would be to build a space station out of an unused rocket stage. The design evolved over the years as NASA struggled with reduced funding. Skylab finally aimed for space on May 14, 1973. However, a meteoroid shield that was supposed to shelter Skylab accidentally opened about 63 seconds into the launch. The still-thick atmosphere tore the shield off, plunging Skylab into a serious situation. The facility experienced communications problems with the antenna as a result of the incident, but that was the least of the agency's worries. "When the meteoroid shield ripped loose, it disturbed the mounting of workshop solar array wing No. 2 and caused it to partially deploy. The exhaust plume of the second stage retro-rockets impacted the partially deployed solar array and literally blew it into space," NASA wrote. Workers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center scrambled to stabilize the station.

Among other measures, they put the station in an attitude that would minimize overheating, and came up with ways to cope with the station's reduced power situation. Meanwhile, the first crew – led by Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad – would need to make the station habitable before they could get to work. The crew's first challenge during the spacewalk, just hours after launch, was deploying the solar array, but initial attempts met with no luck as a metal strip holding it down refused to give way. Crew members emerged from an expected communications blackout in a foul mood, according to an official NASA account of the mission. "The astronauts were venting their frustration with four-letter words, while Houston repeatedly tried to remind them that communication had resumed," NASA wrote. Realizing the tools they had with them that day would not work, Conrad abandoned the exercise and focused on trying to dock his spacecraft with the station. Unfortunately, the docking mechanism failed and the crew had to depressurize the spacecraft and bypass electrical connections to achieve it. In subsequent days, Conrad's crew erected a sun shade , successfully deployed the stuck array, and began operational work aboard the station.

While the incident was frustrating for the teams involved, it also demonstrated that it was possible to fix a badly damaged space station while it is in orbit. Cutaway view of Skylab May 14, 1973: Skylab Space Station Launched - SpaceNews.com May 14, 1973: Skylab Space Station Launched posted: 12 May 2008 11:34 am ET WASHINGTON — As the space race – and the Apollo program – came to an end, NASA shifted the focus of its manned spaceflight program from exploration to science with the launch of the first U.S. space station. Skylab launched May 14, 1973, on a Saturn 5 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The project, initially dubbed the Apollo Applications Program, began in the mid-1960s, space historian Roger Launius said in a May 1 phone interview. Once the Apollo program ceased, leftover parts were modified for long-duration space missions in Earth orbit, he said. The Saturn 5’s fuelless third stage was used as the body of Skylab.

The rocket’s liquid hydrogen tank was reconfigured to become the astronaut’s living quarters and lab area, while the smaller liquid oxygen tank was used to stow waste. The three-manned Skylab missions were launched on Saturn 1B rockets in modified Apollo command modules leftover from the three canceled Apollo missions. The Skylab program’s purpose was to enable scientific experiments in a microgravity environment and to make solar and Earth observations. Astronauts both conducted and took part in the experiments, which included examining how the human body copes with long-duration weightlessness. For the first time, a regularly appointed scientist was included in the three-man astronaut crew, the NASA History Web site said. Skylab hit some obstacles early on. Barely a minute after launch, atmospheric drag tore off the station’s meteoroid and sun shield, which severed one of two solar array wings, and left the second solar array jammed, according to the Web site. The space station made it to orbit, but was underpowered and temperatures inside were dangerously high. In addition to making it uninhabitable, the excessive heat could have spoiled food supplies, released toxic gas from melting plastics and ruined photographic film, the Web site said.

Skylab’s ground control team devised a series of attitude adjustments to enable the solar arrays to provide the space station with a serviceable amount of power while keeping the internal heat at a tolerable level, according to the Web site. The first crews to the station made more permanent repairs. The first crew to Skylab, whose launch was delayed by 10 days, installed a parasol-like sun shield and fully extended the jammed solar panel wing, while the second crew deployed a second sun shield, the NASA History Web site said. The successful maintenance proved astronauts could perform meaningful repairs during spacewalks, said Launius, who chairs the National Air and Space Museum’s space history division. Skylab carried three crews on 28-, 59- and 84-day missions, according to the NASA History Web site. Its last crew left the station in 1974. NASA had planned to use the space shuttle to send astronauts to Skylab in 1978, but the first shuttle flight was delayed until 1981, Launius said. But by then Skylab had fallen out of orbit.

The station began to lose altitude when peaking solar activity caused Earth’s atmosphere to expand, thereby increasing atmospheric drag. Skylab crashed into the Indian Ocean and the Australian coast in July 1979. Despite its power problem, Skylab still compared favorably to its Soviet contemporary, the Salyut, Launius said. “Skylab was much larger, had much more capability,” he said. While there were several Salyuts, there was only one Skylab. Launius said that while Skylab was orbiting, NASA was “consumed” with its next big project: the space shuttle. Not long after the first space shuttle flight, NASA pitched the idea of another space station, he said. The U.S. government approved that second station after then-NASA Administrator Jim Beggs showed President Ronald Reagan a current photograph of the Soviet Salyut 7 orbiting Earth, Launius said. space station | Britannica.com Space station astronomy Space station, an artificial structure placed in orbit and having the pressurized enclosure, power, supplies, and environmental systems necessary to support human habitation for extended periods. Depending on its configuration, a space station can serve as a base for a variety of activities.

These include observations of the Sun and other astronomical objects, study of Earth ’s resources and environment , military reconnaissance, and long-term investigations of the behaviour of materials and biological systems—including human physiology and biochemistry —in a state of weightlessness , or microgravity . Video of Earth as seen from the International Space Station. Science in Seconds ( (A Britannica Publishing Partner) The International Space Station photographed against the Rio Negro, Argentina, from the shuttle … NASA Small space stations are launched fully assembled, but larger stations are sent up in modules and assembled in orbit. To make the most efficient use of its carrier vehicle’s capacity, a space station is launched vacant, and its crew members—and sometimes additional equipment—follow in separate vehicles. A space station’s operation, therefore, requires a transportation system to ferry crews and hardware and to replenish the propellant, air, water, food, and such other items as are consumed during routine operations. Space stations use large panels of solar cells and banks of storage batteries as their source of electrical power. They also employ geostationary relay satellites for continuous communication with mission controllers on the ground and satellite-based positioning systems for navigation.

space exploration: Space stations Since 1971, 11 space stations launched into a low orbit around Earth have been occupied for varying lengths of time. In chronological order they are Salyut 1, Skylab , Salyuts 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, Mir , the International Space Station , and Tiangong 1 and 2. Space stations (1971 onward) Human Space Flight (HSF) - Space History Expedition Crews The first proposal for a manned station occurred in 1869, when an American novelist told the story of how a "Brick Moon" came to orbit Earth to help ships navigate at sea. In 1923, Romanian Hermann Oberth was the first to use the term "space station" to describe a wheel-like facility that would serve as the jumping off place for human journeys to the moon and Mars. In 1952, Dr. Werner von Braun published his concept of a space station in Collier's magazine.

He envisioned a space station that would have a diameter of 250 feet, orbit more than 1,000 miles above the Earth, and spin to provide artificial gravity through centrifugal force. The Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, Salyut 1, in 1971 - a decade after launching the first human into space. The United States sent its first space station, the larger Skylab, into orbit in 1973 and it hosted three crews before it was abandoned in 1974. Russia continued to focus on long-duration space missions and in 1986 launched the first modules of the Mir space station. In 1998, the first two modules of the International Space Station were launched and joined together in orbit. Other modules soon followed and the first crew arrived in 2000.

Pictured from left to right: The Zarya Control Module prior to the docking of Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-88; Zarya is attached to the Unity Node; the Zvezda Service Module as seen during STS-106; during STS-92, the Z1 Truss was attached to the station; the station's solar arrays were installed on STS-97; the U.S. Destiny Laboratory was installed on mission STS-98. Learn more about NASA history at . To view the archive of Space Station Science Status Reports, please go to the Web site . NASA - JSC History Portal (Project Brochure) Established in 1996, the goal of the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project (JSC OHP) is to capture history from the individuals who first provided the country and the world with an avenue to space and the moon. Participants include managers, engineers, technicians, doctors, astronauts, and other employees of NASA and aerospace contractors who served in key roles during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Shuttle programs. These oral histories ensure that the words of these pioneers live on to tell future generations about the excitement and lessons of space exploration.

Oral history interviews began in the summer of 1997, and since that time more than 675 individuals have participated in the NASA Oral History projects. (listed by project) The STS Recordation Oral History Project involves the collection of history from key individuals formerly and currently associated with the agency’s Space Shuttle Program (SSP), focusing on the Space Shuttle Orbiter and its related components. These interviews include information on a number of Space Shuttle Program aspects from concept development to retirement, and focus on design, hardware evolution, and changes in response to the two Space Shuttle accidents. In addition, the JSC Space Shuttle Program Tacit Knowledge Capture Project was commissioned by the JSC Chief Knowledge Officer and the Space Shuttle Program Manager, and includes twenty interviews with current and former key members of the Space Shuttle Program. In conjunction with the NASA JSC Oral History Project, oral history sessions were conducted for the NASA Headquarters History Office: Administrators ; NACA ; Herstory ; Earth System Science ; Aviatrix Pioneers ; Ballistic Missile Development Pioneers . Also an Oral History Project was conducted to capture the experiences from those individuals involved with the Shuttle-Mir Program (ISS Phase 1).

The transcripts have been exported to individual Adobe Acrobat PDF files for easy searching and viewing. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files. Signed releases from the participants are located in the JSC History Collection. The audio documentary, Apollo 8: Earth's Rise to a New Era , features excerpts of oral histories combined with a narration to present a unique perspective on a venture that resulted in humankind's first voyage to another celestial body. Skylab launched - May 14, 1973 - HISTORY.com Skylab launched Publisher A+E Networks Skylab, America’s first space station, is successfully launched into an orbit around the earth. Eleven days later, U.S. astronauts Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin, and Paul Weitz made a rendezvous with Skylab, repairing a jammed solar panel and conducting scientific experiments during their 28-day stay aboard the space station. The first manned Skylab mission came two years after the Soviet Union launched Salynut, the world’s first space station, into orbit around the earth.

However, unlike the ill-fated Salynut, which was plagued with problems, the American space station was a great success, safely housing three separate three-man crews for extended periods of time and exceeding pre-mission plans for scientific study. Originally the spent third stage of a Saturn 5 moon rocket, the cylinder space station was 118 feet tall, weighed 77 tons, and carried the most varied assortment of experimental equipment ever assembled in a single spacecraft to that date. The crews of Skylab spent more than 700 hours observing the sun and brought home more than 175,000 solar pictures. They also provided important information about the biological effects of living in space for prolonged periods of time. Five years after the last Skylab mission, the space station’s orbit began to deteriorate faster than expected, owing to unexpectedly high sunspot activity. On July 11, 1979, the parts of the space station that did not burn up in the atmosphere came crashing down on Australia and into the Indian Ocean. No one was injured.

Related Videos Skylab - launched May 14, 1973, part of the Apollo Space Program Skylab (1973) Skylab was the first US space station, it was launched into a 435 km (270 miles) altitude orbit on May 14, 1973 as part of the Apollo program. This 91 ton, 36 meters (4-story) high, 6.7 meters in diameter structure carried three different Apollo crews manned Skylab during its 9 month mission conducting medical experiments, solar observations and detailed Earth resources mapping experiments. Skylab spacecraft reentered the atmosphere on July 11, 1979 scattering debris over the Indian Ocean and the sparsely settled region of Western Australia. Skylab included eight separate solar experiments; two X-ray telescopes, an X-ray and extreme ultraviolet camera, an ultraviolet spectroheliometer, an extreme ultraviolet spectroheliograph and an ultraviolet spectroheliograph, a white light coronagraph and two hydrogen-alpha telescopes.

Resources Experiments Package S190-B (5" focal length camera) Skylab Image of the Baltimore - Washington Corridor, with Landsat 1 (ERTS 1) Classification Holt County Nebraska, Agriculture Mir Space Station | Soyuz in Pravda | Soyuz Recovery | Mir Expeditions | Mir Space Station The space station Mir became a legend in its own time reflecting Russiaï¿½s past space glories and her future as a leader in space. The Russian Space Station Mir endured 15 years in orbit, three times its planned lifetime. It outlasted the Soviet Union, that launched it into space. It hosted scores of crewmembers and international visitors. It raised the first crop of wheat to be grown from seed to seed in outer space. It was the scene of joyous reunions, feats of courage, moments of panic, and months of grim determination. It suffered dangerous fires, a nearly catastrophic collision, and darkened periods of out-of-control tumbling. Mir soared as a symbol of Russiaï¿½s past space glories and her potential future as a leader in space.

And it served as the stageï¿½historyï¿½s highest stageï¿½for the first large-scale, technical partnership between Russia and the United States after a half-century of mutual antagonism. Mir did all of that and like most legends was controversial and paradoxical. At different times and by different people, Mir was called both "venerable" and "derelict." It was also "robust," "accident-prone," and "a marvel," as well as "a lemon." For Russians, the very name "Mir" held meaning, feeling, and history. Mir translates into English as "world," "peace," and "village," but a single-word translation misses its full significance. Historically, after the Edict of Emancipation in 1861, the word "mir" referred to a Russian peasant community that owned its own land. A system of state-owned collective farms replaced the mir after the Russian revolution of 1917.

Read an essay by Frank Culbertson, Shuttle-Mir Program Manager, on the meanings of "Mir: Whatï¿½s in a Name?" As with most legends, Mir was literally beyond the reach of most men and women, but it could be seen by many as a bright light arcing across the night sky. Mir undoubtedly provoked many thoughts around the globe about who weï¿½as a human raceï¿½are and where we are going. The cosmonauts and astronauts who were fortunate enough to travel to Mir were always impressed by its appearance. Regardless, Mir remained difficult to describe. Someone once called Mir a 100-ton Tinker Toy, a term that recalled Mirï¿½s construction. Adding modules over the years, and then sometimes rearranging them, the Russians had built the strangest, biggest structure ever seen in outer space. Traveling at an average speed of 17,885 mph, the space station orbited about 250 miles above the Earth. Mir was both great and gracefulï¿½and incongruous and awkwardï¿½all at the same time.

In outward appearance, Mir has also been compared to a dragonfly with its wings outstretched, and to a hedgehog whose spines could pierce a spacewalkerï¿½s suit. NASA-4 Mir Astronaut Jerry Linenger compared Mir to "six school buses all hooked together. It was as if four of the buses were driven into a four-way intersection at the same time. They collided and became attached. All at right angles to each other, these four buses made up the four Mir science modules. ï¿½ Priroda and Spektr were relatively new additions ï¿½ and looked itï¿½each sporting shiny gold foil, bleached-white solar blankets, and unmarred thruster pods. Kvant-2 and Kristall ï¿½ showed their age. Solar blankets were yellowed ï¿½ and looked as drab as a Moscow winter and were pockmarked with raggedy holes, the result of losing battles with micrometeorite and debris strikes over the years." On the inside, Mir often surprised people, too, even when they thought they were ready for the view.

By the time Americans arrived on Mirï¿½nearly a decade into its lifeï¿½the station had become cluttered with used-up and broken equipment and floating bags of trash. During Mirï¿½s lifetime, no adequate remedy was ever developed to deal with the stowage situation. Mir looked like a metal rabbit warren, or, as Mike Foale put it, "a bit like a frat house, but more organized and better looked after." Still, Mir was home and shelter to its crews, and how it looked to them depended on their perspectives and situations. The ivory-like controls of the Base Block reminded David Wolf of classic science-fiction stories, such as The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. After a fly-around in the cramped Soyuz capsule, Jerry Linenger wrote: "Looking into the station I could see a lone ray of light shining through the port widow and outlining the dining table. We had left some food out for dinner. It was the only time during my stay in space that Mir looked warm, inviting, and spacious. It reminded me of opening the door to a summer cottage that been boarded up for the winter, looking inside, and seeing familiar surroundings." Mir set every record in long-duration spaceflight.

Physician Valeri Polyakov lived aboard Mir for a single, continuous-orbit stay of 437 days, 17 hours and 38 minutes. He completed his stay in 1995 as American Norm Thagard began his Mir residency. Polyakov's experiences contributed greatly to the biomedical studies of long-term human spaceflight conducted by the Institute of Biomedical Problems, where he served as Deputy Director. Combined with an earlier Mir expedition flight, the Russian cosmonaut spent a total 678 days, 16 hours and 33 minutes on the Russian space station. However, his achievement for total time in space was surpassed in 1999 by Sergei Avdeyev who endured a total 747 days, 14 hours and 12 minutes, during three space missions. During Shuttle-Mir, Shannon Lucid set the space endurance record for women in 1996 when she spent 188 days, 4 hours and 00 minutes in orbit. Just as "mir"ï¿½the wordï¿½had many meanings for Russians, Mirï¿½the placeï¿½provoked many different feelings.

In February 1995, Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov flew aboard the "near Mir" flight, STS-63, when the Shuttle rendezvoused with Mir. Six years earlier, Titov had spent a year aboard Mir as an expedition member, when Mir consisted of only the Base Block, the two Kvant modules, a Soyuz, and a Progress spacecraft. About seeing Mir again, Titov said, "It was very wonderful, a wonderful view." STS-63 did not dock, but Titov visited Mir again as a crewmember of STS-86. Alas, the sturdy Mir was built on a sinking foundation. Without repeated boostings, all things in low Earth orbit must eventually come down. With the new International Space Station requiring much of the Russian space programï¿½s attention and financing, the Mir Space Station was doomed to be deorbited. A strong effort rallied in Russia to keep Mir aloft; and at one point, Russian State Duma representatives were calling for the firing of Yuri Koptev from his post as the head of Russiaï¿½s aerospace agency.

However, on December 30, 2000, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed a resolution calling for Mir to be sunk into the ocean, early in 2001. Concerns circled the globe about Mir crashing into populated areas. Mirï¿½s path crossed over nearly every city on Earth. Its orbits tracked over everything between 51 degrees North and South latitude, roughly within the limits of the Aleutian Islands to the north and the southern Andes Mountains to the south. Pieces of previous large spacecraft had landed in Canada, Australia, and southern South America, albeit fortunately without any damages or casualties. For Mir, Russia acquired insurance in the event that its deorbit caused some physical damage. Japan kept a close watch because the final orbit would bring the Mir over the island nation. The U.S. government provided Russia with tracking and trajectory data, atmospheric conditions, and even solar activity, which can cause the Earthï¿½s atmosphere to expand farther into space.

Although there was considerable certainty that debris could be limited to falling in the ocean, Yuri Semenov, RSC Energia President, was quoted as saying, "We donï¿½t have a 100-percent safety guarantee." After more than 86,000 total orbits, Mir re-entered Earthï¿½s atmosphere on Friday, March 23, 2001, at 9 a.m. Moscow time. The 134-ton space structure broke up over the southern Pacific Ocean. Some of its larger pieces blazed harmlessly into the sea, about 1,800 miles east of New Zealand. Observers in Fiji reported spectacular gold- and white-streaming lights. An amazing saga and a highly successful program finally had come to a watery end. Anatoly Solovyev had lived a total of 651 days on Mir and served as Mir-24 commander for Americans Mike Foale and David Wolf. He was quoted in Star City as saying, "I am especially sad these days.

An entire era of our Soviet space program is ending, into which we invested not only our money but, what is more important, our intellectual potential." The Russiansï¿½ investment began when a Soviet Proton launcher boosted Mirï¿½s Base Block (core module) into orbit on February 20, 1986. This module resembled the existing Salyut-7 space station, but Mirï¿½s design called for expansion through the addition of future modules. Mirï¿½s first crew arrived in mid-March 1986, and the inaugural crew of Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyev stayed aboard until May 5, 1986. This Solovyev would later become the Russian cochair of the Flight Operations Working Group for the Shuttle-Mir Program. And it was he who took charge of the Moscow Mission Control Center immediately after the Progress resupply vehicle collided with Mir, during NASA-5 Mir Astronaut Mike Foaleï¿½s residency. In 1987, the Soviets added Mirï¿½s first expansion module, Kvant-1, and had the worldï¿½s first modular space station.

They still needed a more versatile way of transporting crews and equipment to and from Mirï¿½something like the American Space Shuttle. In 1988, the Soviets launched the Buran, a winged, reusable space vehicle and a close copy of the U.S. Shuttle. Its first flight was near perfect. However, at this point in history, the Soviet Union was crumbling. No further Buran flights were attempted; four planned orbiters remained unfinished. The Soyuz-TM vehicle and Progress-M resupply (cargo) vehicle became the transports of crews and supplies to the Mir. The Kvant-1 featured a docking port to accommodate the arrival of these spacecraft. The system worked well as the Russian space station was unoccupied on only five brief occasions until its deorbit on March 23, 2001. During its existence, the station had remained almost continuously occupied for nine years. Mir continued to expand during the next years with the additions of modules for research and residence. Kvant-2 arrived in November 1989 with an airlock that allowed crewmembers access to the outside of the complex for extravehicular activities.

Kristall, launched at the end of May 1990, housed Earth observation instruments and was used for semiconductor and biological experiments. Five years later, Spektr, a remote-sensing module for geophysical sciences, was added to the Mir. On June 29, 1995, U.S. Space Shuttles began docking with the Russian space station. Before this first docking, the Mir-19 crew used the Lyappa manipulator arm to relocate the Kristall, thus allowing ample clearance for Atlantis. In November 1995, a new docking module arrived via STS-74 and was attached to the Kristall to provide means for future dockings without interference. The next year, on April 23, 1996, the final module, the Priroda, was added to the Mir. The complex retained a docked Soyuz-TM vehicle at all times as this spacecraft served as the crewï¿½s "lifeboat." The vehicle carried a maximum of three persons, took two to three days to reach its destination, and could remain docked with the Mir for approximately 200 days before its orbital lifetime limit expired.

The resident Soyuz was used for an occasional, scheduled "fly-around" of the T-shaped Mir, but crews primarily ventured outside for extravehicular activities (EVAs). During Mirï¿½s lifetime, crewmembers spent more than 325 hours as part of 75 planned spacewalks to conduct research and repairs on the exterior of the structure. Additional hours were spent during three intravehicular walks inside the unpressurized Spektr module. Participants in the Mir EVAs included 29 Russian cosmonauts, 3 U.S. astronauts, 2 French astronauts, and 1 European Space Agency astronaut who was a citizen of Germany. Cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev donned the Russian Orlan spacesuit for 16 spacewalks for a total time of 77 hours, 46 minutesï¿½more EVA time than any other spacewalker in the world. After the Russian space station moved into its second decade, the Mir became notorious as an accident-prone spacecraft, even as it remained unparalleled in continuous service. A 15-minute fire in an oxygen-generating device imperiled the station in February 1997.

Failures of the Elektron electrolysis oxygen-enerating units and problems with attitude and environmental controls often seemed to alternate with computer malfunctions and power outages. The June 1997 collision with the Progress supply vehicle breached the integrity of the Spektrï¿½s hull and rendered that module uninhabitable. But, Mir remained; and its space explorers endured. Over its lifetime, the space station hosted 125 cosmonauts and astronauts from 12 different nations. It supported 17 space expeditions, including 28 long-term crews. Its residents arrived via the 31 spacecraft that docked with Mir; nine of the dockings involved the Space Shuttle. Additionally, 64 uncrewed cargo vessels ferried supplies and equipment periodically to Mir. And, it served as a floating laboratory for 23,000 scientific and medical experiments. Although Mir was gone by early 2001 and the International Space Station (ISS) was growing rapidly in orbit, the U.S. and Russia were still using spacecraft as statecraft. On March 23ï¿½the same day as Mirï¿½s deorbitï¿½Russia expelled four U.S.

diplomats and said it would expel 46 more, in retaliation for the American expulsion of 50 Russian diplomats for espionage-like activities. It wasnï¿½t the Cold War, all over again, but international tensions were certainly continuing, and the need remained for a worthy program for U.S. and Russian cooperation. One could still apply to the ISS the same hopes that Shuttle Commander Charlie Precourt had held for it during Shuttle-Mir. Precourt had predicted that the ISS would "provide the psychological impetus for politicians to force themselves to find an agreement to disputes that otherwise they wouldnï¿½tï¿½because theyï¿½ll all look up there and say, ï¿½Well, we have an investment in that, too. We have to keep this relationship going in a proper direction.ï¿½" Although the U.S.-Russian relationship was still going in the "proper direction," toward continued cooperation in space, the proper use and the funding of ISS were still in question. NASA cost overruns for the ISS clouded the programï¿½s future, and Russiaï¿½s foreign department was threatening to reduce its participation in the ISS.

To make the situation even more complicated, the ISS partner nations were discussing whether Russia should launch a wealthy, American "space tourist" to the space station. Notwithstanding all the diplomatic wrangling, Mirï¿½s demise also coincided neatly with the successful finish to the first U.S.-Russian expedition to the ISS. On March 22, 2001, Expedition One crewmembers Sergei Krikalev, Yuri Gidzenko, and Commander William Shepherd returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. They received a ride from STS-102 Shuttle Commander James Wetherbee and a crew that included former Mir resident Andy Thomas. STS-102 had ferried the Expedition Two crew of James Voss, Susan Helms, and Commander Yury Usachev to the station. Just as the ISS itself grew out of the lessons of Mir, many of the principal people in the ISS Program drew from their experiences during the Shuttle-Mir Program. And, in Houston and in Moscow, American and Russian managers, engineers and technicians who had worked in the Shuttle-Mir Program were working to make the ISS a success. The International Space Station was growing, but the memories of Mir refused to fade.

Indeed, people had anticipated its demise for long enough that, even before it fell, it had entered nostalgia. In a 1998 interview, Vladimir Semyachkin reflected on Mir. He had developed the motion control systems and navigation systems for all vehicles and stations that were produced and launched into space by RSC Energia. Semyachkin, as much as anyone, had wrestled with Mirï¿½s problems. He said: "Itï¿½s a shameï¿½. Our child, who we gave birth to so many years ago, ï¿½ weï¿½re going to have to put it to sleep. But, on the other hand, we understand that sometimes thereï¿½s nothing to be doneï¿½. One cannot sit, as it were, on two chairs at the same time.

Nevertheless, despite this sorrow with ï¿½ regard to Mir, we nonetheless do look forward to the future with a great deal of hope." Landed in Space Shuttle Atlantis July 7, 1995 The major objectives of the Mir-18 mission were to conduct joint U.S.-Russian medical research and weightlessness effects investigations; to reconfigure the station for the arrival of the Spektr science module; and to welcome the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The mission saw the first American to be part of a Mir crew, NASA-1 Mir Astronaut Norman Thagard (left), the addition of the first new module (Spektr) since Kristall arrived in 1990, and the first docking of a U.S. Space Shuttle (STS-71) with the Mir complex. Pictured with Thagard are Commander Vladimir Dezhurov (center) and Flight Engineer Gennady Strekalov (right). Mir Principal Expedition 19 Landed in Soyuz-TM 21 September 11, 1995 The only complete Mir mission of 1995 with an all-Russian crew, Mir-19 had many international elements.

As the first Mir crew launched on a Space Shuttle (STS-71, Atlantis), Commander Anatoly Solovyev (right) and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin (left) began their work in conjunction with the visiting U.S. crew and departing Mir-18 international crew. Two of their extravehicular activities involved deploying and retrieving international experiments. They ended their stay by welcoming the incoming international Euromir 95 crew. Mir Principal Expedition 20 Launched and landed in Soyuz-TM 22 September 3, 1995ï¿½February 27, 1996 Mir-20 was the second Mir mission with a Euromir designation and the second with a European Space Agency astronaut as part of the crew. Cosmonaut Researcher Thomas Reiter (center) was the first non-Russian Mir crewmember with the added designation of Flight Engineer. Mir-20 was also the second Mir mission to include a U.S. Space Shuttle docking (STS-74, Atlantis). During that phase of the mission, the station complex housed crewmembers from four countries. Representing Russia were Commander Yuri Gidzenko, (left) and Flight Engineer Sergei Avdeyev (right).

Reiter represented Germany as a member of the European Space Agency. Chris Hadfield, representing the Canadian Space Agency, arrived with the STS-74 crewï¿½U.S. astronauts Kenneth Cameron, James Halsell, Jr., Jerry Ross, and William McArthur, Jr. Mir Principal Expedition 21 Launched and landed in Soyuz-TM 23 February 21ï¿½September 2, 1996 Commander Yuri Onufriyenko (right) and Flight Engineer Yury Usachev (center) began their mission without the third crewmember, NASA-2 Mir Astronaut Shannon Lucid (left), who would join them on March 23 during STS-76, the third Atlantis-Mir docking mission. On one of the seven extravehicular activities during Mir-21, two STS-76 astronauts, Linda Godwin and Michael (Rich) Clifford, walked outside Mir; the first U.S. extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the two mated spacecraft and the first U.S. spacewalk outside a space station since Skylabï¿½22 years earlier.

On two other EVAs, Onufriyenko and Usachev installed a new solar array on the Kvant module. In May 1996, the last permanent module was added to the complex, Priroda, with its large complement of Earth science experiments. Mir Principal Expedition 22 Launched and landed in Soyuz-TM 24 August 17, 1996ï¿½March 2, 1997 Commander Valeri Korzun (top right), Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri (top left), and French Researcher Claudie Andre-Deshays (bottom center) joined Shannon Lucid (top center) and the Mir-21 crew, Commander Yuri Onufriyenko (bottom right) and Flight Engineer Yury Usachev (bottom left), on Mir. Andre-Deshays returned to Earth with the Mir-21 crew after about two weeks onboard the station. Lucidï¿½s stay with the Mir-22 Expedition crew was lengthened about six weeks due to a Space Shuttle launch postponement.

STS-79 launched on September 16, 1996, delivering NASA-3 resident John Blaha and returning home with Lucid onboard on September 26. STS-81 launched on January 12, 1997, with the next U.S. resident, Jerry Linenger, who later performed a spacewalk in a Russian Orlan spacesuit. Mir Principal Expedition 23 Launched and landed Soyuz-TM 25 February 10, 1997ï¿½August 14, 1997 Mir-23 had more troubles than any other Mir expedition, including an onboard fire that occurred early in the mission with six crewmembers onboardï¿½Mir-22 crew, Valeri Korzun, Alexander Kaleri and German Researcher Reinhold Ewald; Mir-23 crew, Commander Vasily Tsibliev (left) and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Lazutkin (right); and NASA-4 resident Jerry Linenger (center).

Challenges continued for the Mir-23 crew after NASA-5 Mir Astronaut Mike Foale arrived on STS-84, when a Progress resupply vehicle collided with Mirï¿½s Spektr module, causing a loss of station control and depressurization. Mir Principal Expedition 24 Launched and landed Soyuz-TM 26 August 5, 1997ï¿½February 15, 1998 Mir-24 hosted three American astronauts, NASA-5 resident Mike Foale, NASA-6 resident David Wolf (center), and NASA-7 resident Andy Thomas. Mir continued to have systems problems, but overall conditions improved. Wolf performed an extravehicular activity with Commander Anatoly Solovyev (right). Also onboard Mir-24 was Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov (left). Mir Principal Expedition 25 Launched and landed Soyuz-TM 27 January 29, 1998ï¿½August 25, 1998 Mir-25 was the last Shuttle-Mir expedition.

French Astronaut Leopold Eyharts flew to Mir with the Mir-25 crew and returned to Earth with the Mir-24 crew. Russian Phase 1 Manager Valery Ryumin visited Mir with the crew of STS-91, which brought NASA-7 Mir Astronaut Andy Thomas back to Earth. Mir-25 crewmembers were Commander Talgat Musabayev and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin. Pictured are (top row, left to right) Ryumin, STS-91 crewmember Wendy Lawrence, Thomas, STS-91 crewmember Janet Kavandi, Budarin; (bottom row, left to right) STS-91 Commander Charlie Precourt, Musabayev, and STS-91 crewmembers Dominic Gorie and Franklin Chang-Diaz. China's First Space Station: A New Foothold in Earth Orbit China's First Space Station: A New Foothold in Earth Orbit By Leonard David, Space.com's Space Insider Columnist | May 6, 2011 07:00am ET MORE China is developing its first full-fledged space station, called Tiangong (Heavenly Palace).

Early tests of China’s skills at rendezvous and docking, shown in this artist's illustration, are set to begin in 2011. Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office China's state-run news outlets report that preparations of the country's first space station module, called Tiangong-1, are in full swing for a launch in the second half of this year and will be followed by an unpiloted spacecraft. The spacecraft twosome, the station module and China's Shenzhou 8 vehicle, will mark the country's first round of orbital rendezvous and docking tests – viewed as a springboard to larger space adventures. A Long March 2F rocket is the booster of choice for the individual launches, according to reports by China's Xinhua news agency. [ Photos: China's First Space Station ] Take a look at how China's first space station, called Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace") will be assembled in orbit in this SPACE.com infographic. See the full infographic on the Tiangong space station here . Credit: Karl Tate/SPACE.com According to state media reports, the Tiangong-1 space station module is outfitted with a docking port on its front and rear ends.

It will tip the scales at roughly 8 1/2 tons and purportedly will have a two-year lifetime in Earth orbit. Next year, China's Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 missions, each carrying astronauts, are expected to link up with the station module, according to current plan. By honing their skills at rendezvous and docking, Chinese space officials see the target practice as a step forward in assembling a far heftier space facility, now slated to be completed around 2020, according to Yang Liwei, deputy head of China’s Manned Space Engineering Office. Yang was China’s first person to orbit the Earth, in 2003. China currently has a 21-member astronaut corps that includes two women and is undergoing training for future docking and rendezvous milestones. The two women are pilots drawn from the People's Liberation Army Air Force. This illustration depicts a Chinese Shenzhou vehicle approaching the Tiangong 1 space lab during orbital rendezvous and docking tests, a precursor for space station construction.

Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office Larger space station According to an April 26 Xinhua report, China's goal is to build a 60-ton space station that would consist of three modules and also would make use of a cargo spaceship delivering supplies to the orbital complex. The full-size station would have a 59-foot (18.1-meter) core module with a maximum diameter of 14 feet (4.2 meters) and a launch weight of between 20 and 22 tons (18,100 to 19,900 kilograms). That central module would be launched first, according to the plan. [ How China's First Space Station Will Work (Infographic) ] The two follow-on laboratory modules would each be 47 feet long (14.4 meters), with the same maximum diameter and launch weight of the core module. Details of the station construction job were outlined in a press meeting held April 25 by the China Manned Space Engineering Office. Wang Wenbao, director of the CMSEO, recently called upon Chinese people around the world for a logo and a distinctive name for the country’s first crewed space station.

Chinese media reports also state Wang has requested ideas and logo concepts for the space station to be sent to an organizing committee via online polls that will run over next several months. Work is underway in readying China's thrust into a space station era with Tiangong-1, the first Chinese space station module.. The banner above the hardware reads: "Carry on the spirit of human spaceflight, insure the complete success of the docking mission." Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office/Banner translation - Gregory Kulacki China's Skylab Call it "China's Skylab," said Gregory Kulacki, senior analyst and China project manager for the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Skylab was the name of the first American space station launched by NASA. "The 60-ton Chinese station is approximately the same size as America's first space station and is being launched at a comparable stage in the history of China's human space flight program ," Kulacki told SPACE.com. NASA's Skylab was lofted back in 1973. It was visited by a trio of crews, three astronauts each time. The last team to visit that U.S.

station set a world record at the time for longest stay in orbit, 84 days. The 100-ton facility re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in 1979. High hopes China’s goal for the program, Kulacki said, is equally simple: to acquire experience living and working in space. "The planned scientific and technical experiments will be informed by developments in space science since the late 1970s," he added, "and China has high hopes that their experience in space will lead to breakthroughs that can be applied back on Earth." Domestic proponents of China’s human spaceflight program argue that America's program -- which served as a model for the Chinese -- stimulated U.S. technical and economic development, Kulacki noted. "The Chinese political leaders funding the program hope they are right." Kulacki said that Chinese opponents who question the diversion of the country's still limited human, technical and financial resources to human spaceflight argue that China is simply repeating what was accomplished decades ago, by the United States. "Moreover there is no evidence that China's accomplishments in human spaceflight provide increased political legitimacy or support for the Chinese Communist Party, despite the expansive propaganda efforts surrounding the program,” Kulacki advised.

Another take on what's in the offing from China comes from Dean Cheng, a Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center – and a specialist in China's military and space capabilities . Cheng said China’s moves to deploy a space lab are a continuation of its Project 921, begun in 1992. "It reflects the long-term nature of China's space planning and underscores the persistent and consistent nature of their space efforts," Cheng said. "Nearly 20 years after the plan was first set in motion, the Chinese are still at it, in a slow, methodical fashion." Moreover, Cheng noted that the Chinese do not see themselves in a race with the United States. Or, if they do, it is a marathon, not a sprint. "They are operating according to their timelines, not in response to American efforts or out of fear that they will be left behind by the United States," Cheng said. Such an approach has the potential of creating a "frog in the pot" effect for the United States, Cheng said. "The slow, persistent Chinese approach ensures that there is not a 'Shenzhou moment' comparable to a 'Sputnik moment'… until the Chinese do make a major breakthrough ?

at which point, it is an open question whether they [the U.S.] will be able to catch up or not." Military implications Cheng sees potential military implications from the imminent testing of rendezvous and docking know-how by China. "Not so much in terms of manned military missions … Rather, rendezvous and docking skills can be transferred to unmanned spacecraft, whether it is for kinetic kill operations or inspection of foreign satellites -- say, for intelligence or war-fighting purposes or other malign purposes ," Cheng said. All of this underscores why repeated attempts by the U.S. to ignite cooperation in the area of manned space are unlikely to bear fruit, Cheng said, "but likely to result in catastrophe." That is, if there is a failure in the cooperation (not technical failure, but failure of political will, or failure of political steadfastness to see things through), then it will have enormous repercussions, which would be bad for the larger Sino-US relationship, Cheng added. Cheng said that the Chinese are explicitly following a policy of "indigenous innovation" -- a heavy emphasis on self-reliance. "China's space program is largely home-grown and a point of pride to the Chinese," he added. "Why should they cooperate with the U.S.?

What is in it for them … especially in light of the export control regulations aimed at China?" Winner of this year’s National Space Club Press Award, Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society’s Ad Astra and Space World magazines and has written for SPACE.com since 1999.

Question: What was the name of the U.S. Space station , launched into Earth orbit in May 1973 ?
Answer: SKYLAB