Stacja orbitalna Skylab 1973-1979

[Orionid]

29.12.1973 odbył się 3. spacer załogi Skylab 4.
Wzięli w nim udział Edward George Gibson i Gerald Paul 'Jerry' Carr.
Astronauci pobrali do analizy kawałek osłony meteoroidowej modułu śluzy powietrznej.
Kontynuowali obserwacje komety Kohoutka przy użyciu ATM (Apollo Telescope Mount) i aparatu Far UV https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19770014572

Podczas spaceru, w przedniej części kombinezonu Geralda Carra, utworzył się lód w wyniku wycieku płynu chłodzącego.
Była to 9. EVA w programie stacji orbitalnej Skylab.
Czas trwania spaceru: 03h 29m.
https://www.nasa.gov/history/the-real-story-of-the-skylab-4-strike-in-space/

Il y a 50 ans, EVA de Bill Pogue et de Jerry Carr d'une durée de 3h29 dont un des objectifs était l'observation de la Comète Kohoutek depuis l'extérieur de Skylab.
Une petite ''frayeur'' pour Poque qui à eu une fuite de liquide de refroidissement

https://x.com/spacemen1969/status/1740632240743440795

[Orionid]

Na przełomie 1973/1974 załoga Skylab 4 kontynuowała obserwacje Komety Kohoutka.
2428.12.1973 kometa była najbliżej Słońca.

Comet Kohoutek, discovered by accident in March 1973, was calculated to make its closest approach of the Sun on Dec. 24, 1973.
Because it was detected early, it became the best-studied comet at the time and contributed significantly to our understanding of comets. 🧵 1/4


NASA took the opportunity to study Comet Kohoutek closely, taking hundreds of images with Skylab's Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM). The comet was only faintly visible to the naked eye, disappointing the general public. 2/4
📷 Series of coronagraphs of the comet taken Dec 27–28.


On Christmas Day, 1973, astronauts Jerry Carr and Bill Pogue performed a 7-hour spacewalk, spending a portion of the time photographing the comet.
"It was so faint that we really had to work to find it." Carr later reported in a NASA oral history. 3/4


The best visualizations of Comet Kohoutek ended up coming from the ATM’s coronagraph instrument and from a series of pencil sketches by Skylab 4 Science Pilot Ed Gibson, which were used to create this illustration. #Skylab50
Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/47eWojc 4/4
https://x.com/NASAhistory/status/1739307535406874725
https://www.forumastronomiczne.pl/index.php?/topic/469-kometa-kohoutka-1973f-kometa-stulecia/

[Orionid]

22.11.1973 astronauci misji Skylab 4  Gerry Carr (po prawej), Ed Gibson (po lewej, do góry nogami) oraz Bill Pogue
jako pierwsi obchodzili Święto Dziękczynienia (Thanksgiving Day) w kosmosie, jedząc dwa duże posiłki na kolację
po trwającym 6h 34m spacerze kosmicznym, w którym wzięli udział William Reid Pogue i Edward George Gibson.
Był to pierwszy spacer dla załogi i 7. w programie Skylab.

NASA History Office @NASAhistory 4:30 PM · Nov 22, 2024
Would you rather have freeze-dried or oven-roasted? 🍗
#OTD in 1973, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerry Carr (right), Ed Gibson (left and upside down), and Bill Pogue were the first to celebrate Thanksgiving in space, enjoying two large meals for dinner after a 6.5 hour spacewalk.

https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/1859982675387289710

NASA History Office @NASAhistory 4:30 PM · Nov 22, 2023
The first Thanksgiving in space!
The Skylab 4 astronauts were the first to celebrate Thanksgiving in space 50 years ago today. #OTD in 1973, Ed Gibson and Bill Pogue completed a 6.5-hour spacewalk, missing lunch. The crew made up for it by having two meals for dinner. #Skylab50

https://x.com/NASAhistory/status/1727348718788096243

Skylab 4: Final Mission Launches to Skylab
John Uri Johnson Space Center Nov 15, 2018

One of the crew’s early tasks was the first spacewalk or Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) of the mission. On November 22, Thanksgiving Day, Gibson and Pogue suited up and stepped out of the space station with Gibson exclaiming “Boy, if this isn’t the great outdoors.” During this EVA, which lasted six hours and 33 minutes, they replaced film canisters in the ATM and deployed an experiment package on the ATM truss. They took photographs with a camera that had originally been intended for the airlock now blocked by the first sunshade that was deployed by the first crew back in May to help cool the station.  Gibson and Pogue accomplished essentially all the tasks planned for this first EVA.

https://www.nasa.gov/history/skylab-4-final-mission-launches-to-skylab/

[Orionid]

Po 50.latach można spotkać sprzeczne informacje nt. daty przejścia komety przez peryhelium.

Na przełomie 1973/1974 załoga Skylab 4 kontynuowała obserwacje Komety Kohoutka.
2428.12.1973 kometa była najbliżej Słońca.

OWZ https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=3483.msg188765#msg188765

Peryhelium minęła w dniu 26 grudnia 1973

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kometa_Kohoutka

On this day in 1973, the comet Kohoutek was observed by Skylab 4 astronaut E.G. Gibson. Gibson took the opportunity to observe the comet visually through different windows in Skylab during the 84-day mission. This rendering is of the comet one day after perihelion.

https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1873534512073781520
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Kohoutek

[Orionid]

16.01.1974 załoga Skylab 4 przekroczyła rekord dni spędzonych na orbicie ustanowiony przez załogę Skylab 3, 59 dni.

16 janvier 1974
Il y a 50 ans, l'équipage de Skylab dépassele record de jours dans l'espace détenu par Skylab 3, soit 59 jours. Ils reviendront le 8 février 1974 après plus de 84 jours dans l'espace.

https://x.com/spacemen1969/status/1747157487097102519

16 novembre 1973
50ème anniversaire de Skylab 4
Il existe plusieurs photos de l'équipage, dont celle officielle utilisée sur les lithos de la NASA (celle signée ici)

https://x.com/spacemen1969/status/1747157487097102519


2)
09.1973 załoga Skylab SL-3/AS-207 dokonywała obserwacji huraganu Ellen.

While Skylab astronauts were proving that humans could live and work in space over long periods, they were also doing groundbreaking science, including studies of our planet!
How their storm observations helped scientists understand weather phenomena! 👇

https://x.com/NASAhistory/status/1902038550545363318

Observing Storms from Skylab
Brad Massey Mar 18, 2025
https://www.nasa.gov/history/observing-storms-from-skylab/

The Space Between Mesoscale Lightning Observations and Weather Forecasting, 1965–82
By Brad Massey, NASA Historian

SKYLAB ASTRONAUT Edward G. Gibson looked down at Earth often during his 84 days on NASA’s first space station. From his orbital vantage point, Gibson took in the breathtaking views of our planet’s diverse landscapes. He also noted the interesting behavior of the planet’s most powerful electrical force: lightning.

While gazing down at South America’s Andes Mountains, Gibson noted that a thunderstorm generated recognizable lightning patterns over a broad area. The timing and number of bolts, Gibson said, seemed to be dictated by some kind of collective organization. As he looked on, a strike would occur and then be followed by two or three simultaneous bolts over an area he estimated to be 500 square miles. “A few things impressed me here: one is the fact that they could go off simultaneously or near simultaneously over a large distance — sympathetic lightning bolts, if you will, analogous to sympathetic flares on the sun,” Gibson recalled.1

Gibson’s words were of great interest to the lightning researchers affiliated with NASA’s Severe Storms and Local Research Program and others who believed observing Earth’s lightning from low Earth orbit generated valuable data that meteorologists could use to better forecast dangerous storm characteristics and behavior. With these motivations in mind, researchers created new Earth- and space-based experiments from the mid-1960s to the first Space Shuttle missions in the early 1980s that observed lightning on a regional level. These included the NASA-sponsored Atmospheric Variability Experiments (AVE) and the Night/Day Optical Survey of Lightning (NOSL) Experiment that was performed by astronauts on STS-2, STS-4, and STS-6.

Mesoscale Weather Forecasting

Researchers in NASA’s Severe Storms and Local Research Program and their partners worked to better understand the characteristics and behavior of powerful storms in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the program’s most important initiatives involved gathering data on storm systems on a mesoscale (regional) level.

In the early and mid-1960s, meteorologists often relied on tools that gave them either very broad or very localized views of storm activity. For example, early weather satellites like those in the Television and InfraRed Observation Satellite (TIROS) and the Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) series provided expansive pictures from space of Earth’s weather systems. These helped forecasters predict the movement and impact of large weather events, like hurricanes and frontal systems. Meteorologists coupled these satellite data with local ground reporting information, generated by ground-based sensors, aircraft, and other terrestrial tools to build weather forecasting models.

Although the combination of broad and local data improved forecasts in the 1960s, it did not enable meteorologists to precisely track and model where a thunderstorm cell was headed in the next 6 hours, where exactly the strongest area of a frontal system might strike, or what types of clouds would spawn tornadoes and lightning strikes.To more reliably predict these events and others, mesoscale data were needed.2

Researchers affiliated with NASA’s storm research initiatives thus conducted AVE in the 1960s and 1970s to bolster mesoscale research and improve weather forecasting. This series of seven experiments compiled vast datasets from weather balloons, aircraft, ground-based sensing devices, radar, weather satellites, and other sources to observe storm characteristics on a regional scale over periods of one to three days.

In a summary of the 1979 Atmospheric Va riabi l it y E xperi ment- Se vere Environmental Storms and Mesoscale Experiment (AVE-SESAME), researchers noted that the data gathered could be used to “develop improved storm forecast capability through the development of models of severe storms and their environment that use space technology and conventional ground-based data sources.”3

These experiments, and others like them, produced datasets on lightning that highlighted its mesoscale properties and its potential to help forecasters create better models. Like Gibson’s Skylab ruminations on the patterning, size, and regional behaviors of lightning, researchers determined that strikes often occurred on a mesoscale and that better observations and understandings of atmospheric electricity could bolster the accuracy of forecasts.

New Lightning Observations from Space

A cohort of lightning researchers committed to expanding space-based lightning studies assembled in 1979 for a NASA-sponsored event dubbed “Workshop on the Need for Lightning Observations from Space.” At the event, James Dodge, a program manager in NASA’s Earth Science Division, spoke about lightning’s relationship to severe weather and meteorological forecasting. Dodge argued that experiments of the 1960s and 1970s revealed that if researchers could observe lightning strikes from low Earth orbit and catalog each strike, they could better understand storm behavior and predict dangerous weather. “It seems clear that if data from a satellite-borne lightning mapper were available, we could conduct simultaneous studies of the lightning discharge patterns and the meteorological environments of specific storms,” he wrote.4

Viewing lightning from space was not a novel concept when the workshop commenced in 1979. Along with Gibson’s lightning observations and recollections from his time on Skylab, lightning scientists had affixed optical sensors to the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) satellites. For example, sensors on OSO-2 (launched on February 3, 1965) captured data that revealed that the vast majority of lightning activity occurring at nighttime took place over land, not the oceans, an observation later confirmed by OSO-5. Furthermore, the Department of Defense satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and Vela V had sensors that collected lightning data.5

Still, Dodge and the researchers at the workshop knew that there were still many things they did not know about lightning, and they believed that emerging technologies and new experiments would open new doors of understanding and improve storm forecasting. In the workshop’s proceedings, researcher Bobby N. Turman wrote that new
lightning-observing tools and sensors, particularly those placed in lower orbits, would expand the scientific and applied fields of lightning studies. “The space shuttle experiment being planned…is a good start in this direction,” Turman wrote.6

Shuttle Observations

NASA’s Space Shuttles were billed, in part, as orbiting Earth science laboratories. Lightning researchers knew this, and in response they created the NOSL Experiment, designed to be conducted on Space Shuttle flight decks. Bernard Vonnegut of the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the University of Albany–State University of New York was NOSL’s principal investigator, and the experiment was sponsored by NASA’s Severe Storms and Local Weather Research Program, which was managed by James Dodge. Like Dodge, Vonnegut highlighted the real-world applications of information gleaned from NOSL and lightning studies. In a NASA technical memorandum, Vonnegut and his team wrote, “Scientists performing research in atmospheric electricity are studying  a phenomenon that not only has scientific research interest but also practical applications. The knowledge of the mechanisms that produce the electrical activity in storm cells could provide information for potential forecast, warning, and control of severe storms.”7

NOSL depended on astronauts to record lightning strikes from space. NOSL’s equipment included a handheld 16mm camera, data recorder, accessory pack, and a whole lot of wire. The NOSL camera recorded on magnetic tape both optical images of lightning bolts and lightning’s electronic output. To conduct NOSL, astronauts were instructed to point the camera out the flight deck window and record storm footage. Although they could not dictate exactly what footage astronauts recorded, Vonnegut’s team hoped astronauts would capture mesoscale-length cloud-to-cloud lightning discharges, tornadic lightning, lightning discharges above thunderstorm clouds, maritime thunderstorms, and more. In short, it was a long mesoscale wish list.8

After a successful lobbying effort, NASA leadership included NOSL on STS-2, STS-4, and STS-6. Those first two missions were busy test flights for the two-person crews. Despite their jam-packed schedules, the NASA astronauts on board conducted the NOSL experiment and captured valuable lightning footage for researchers that confirmed the existence of mesoscale lightning behavior. As the Shuttle Columbia passed over South Africa on November 13, 1981, STS-2 pilot Richard H. Truly recorded several lightning strikes caused by a regional storm. Months later, T. K. Mattingly and Henry W. Hartsfield captured footage of a large thunderstorm over Brazil during the STS-4 mission.9

NOSL investigators deemed the experiment a success. The recordings provided evidence that some lightning bolts were around 60 miles (100 kilometers) long. Other recorded footage substantiated Gibson’s observation of synchronized discharges within regional-sized storm systems. For example, NOSL captured evidence of two bolts, 50 miles away from one another, striking simultaneously. In short, NOSL provided evidence supporting the theory that lightning was often a mesoscale event; therefore, data on lightning could be used to improve forecast models.

The experiment also reinforced the scientific desire to continue to conduct regional lightning observations in orbits lower than most of the era’s weather satellites. “The results show that the Space Shuttle is particularly well suited for obtaining data on mesoscale lightning discharges that are too large to be photographed from a high-altitude airplane or too distant to be resolved from a geostationary satellite,” investigators concluded. Put more simply, viewing lightning from the Space Shuttle proved to be a mesoscale sweet spot.

The Legacy of Mesoscale Observations

The NOSL experiment affirmed James Dodge’s, Bernard Vonnegut’s, and other researchers’ beliefs that orbital observations of lightning from the Space Shuttle would provide important data for researchers and weather forecasters. This success paved the way for future NASA-sponsored lightning studies.

Although NOSL, AVE, and other experiments conducted from the 1960s to the early 1980s did not come close to uncloaking all of lightning’s mysteries, they paved the way to new mesoscale experiments and tools that have allowed researchers to compile valuable data on lightning that forecasters have used to protect life, limb, and property on Earth. 

[Orionid]

26.01.1974 załoga Skylab 4 została obudzona utworem In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Julie London).
30.01.1974 załoga Skylab 4 została obudzona utworem Riders In the Sky (Johnny Cash).
(W rozwinięciu X jest więcej utworów na pobudkę załogi)

26 janvier 1974
Il y a 50 ans, réveil de l'équipage Skylab 4
(par Julie London)

30 janvier 1974
Il y a 50 ans, réveil de l'équipage de Skylab 4
(tout le monde la connait, même ici en France, alors que le titre ne parle pas forcément😉
ne connaissant pas version diffusée au réveil, je vous mets celle-ci qui est très chouette 😃)

https://twitter.com/spacemen1969/status/1752227897413161456

[Orionid]

14.05.1971 NASA ogłosiła, że 3 astronautów (Robert Crippen, Karol Bobko i William Thornton) spędzi 56 dni w komorze wysokościowej MSC o średnicy 6 m w 1972 roku.
Test wysokościowy SMEAT (Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test) miał na celu zebranie podstawowych danych medycznych oraz ocenę sprzętu i procedur.

Astro Info Service @aisoffice 11:20 AM · May 14, 2025
NASA announces OTD 1971 that 3 astronauts (Robert Crippen, Karol Bobko & Bill Thornton) will spend 56 days in the MSC 6 m diameter altitude chamber in 1972. The Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT) would obtain baseline medical data, evaluate equipment & procedures.

https://twitter.com/aisoffice/status/1922582842795581711

50 Years Ago: Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test Begins
John Uri Johnson Space Center Jul 26, 2022

(...) The astronauts began formal training for SMEAT in November 1971, with their early participation mainly in the areas of design and operational planning. The crew began training in the chamber with test equipment in March 1972. Final chamber training for the SMEAT astronauts included a 16-hour wet run and a three-day shakedown altitude run using the procedures for the actual 56-day test. The training also included a mock evacuation of indisposed crew members from the chamber. These exercises provided confidence to proceed with the long-duration test. In total, each astronaut received more than 500 hours of training to prepare for SMEAT. (...)
https://www.nasa.gov/history/50-years-ago-skylab-medical-experiment-altitude-test-begins/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/10840618166

[Orionid]

14.05.2025 o 17:30:00 UTC (19:30 CEST) miną 52 lata od ostatniego startu RN Saturn V, która wyniosła stację orbitalną Skylab.
Do dzisiaj pozostaje jedyną amerykańską stacją kosmiczną, która uległa deorbitacji, a konstruowanie na orbicie kolejnej amerykańskiej stacji jeszcze nawet nie rozpoczęło się
p (2) https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=5242.msg184259#msg184259

Gravitics @GraviticsInc 6:57 PM · Jan 14, 2023
#SpaceStationSaturday Astronaut Acrobatics- Skylab was the first space station launched by the US in 1973. Built from a spent S-IVB stage of a Saturn V rocket, Skylab had 361㎥ of habitable volume. Its Orbital Workshop dome was 6.7m in diameter and had a large open area

https://x.com/GraviticsInc/status/1614320732368166914

[Orionid]

14.05.1974 poczta Stanów Zjednoczonych (USPS) wydała znaczek upamiętniający program Skylab.
Znaczek jest dziełem artysty Roberta T. McCalla.

14 mai 1974
Il y a 50 ans, la poste américaine (USPS) émet un timbre pour commémorer le programme Skylab, dont la station avait été lancée 1 an auparavant le 14 mai 1973.
Le timbre est de l'artiste Robert T. McCall.
Un vieil article de 2013 :
https://souvenirsdespace.lebonforum.com/t390-philatelie-spatiale-usa-1974-skylab

https://x.com/spacemen1969/status/1790143231381909717

[Orionid]

23.05.1973 Administrator NASA Jim Fletcher stawił się przed Senate Committee on Aeronautical & Space Sciences, aby wyjaśnić metody naprawy uszkodzonego Skylab OWS (Orbital Workshop).
Jeśli się powiedzie, możliwe będzie wykonanie większości działań zaplanowanych przez 3 załogowe misje.

Astro Info Service @aisoffice 11:02 AM · May 23, 2025
NASA Administrator Jim Fletcher appeared before the Senate Committee on Aeronautical & Space Sciences, OTD 1973, to explain methods to repair the damaged Skylab OWS. If successful, it would be possible to accomplish most of the activities scheduled for the 3 crewed missions.

https://x.com/aisoffice/status/1925839668433563781
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/9459373176/
5) https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=5242.msg184279#msg184279
TSR 85) https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=4134.msg183009#msg183009
---
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20160013590

[Orionid]

08.06.1959 Wernher von Braun z ABMA zaproponował w raporcie Project Horizon Report wcześniejszy pomysł, który studiował, aby dostosować zużyty stopień rakiety nośnej jako rdzeń stacji kosmicznej.
Określono go mianem koncepcji „mokrego stopnia”, a później oceniono go pod kątem konfiguracji warsztatu klastra AAP.
https://www.army.mil/article/189129/smdc_history_project_horizon_abma_explores_a_lunar_outpost
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Horizon

Astro Info Service @aisoffice 10:54 AM · Jun 8, 2023
Wernher von Braun of the ABMA proposed, in a Project Horizon Report OTD in 1959, an earlier idea he had studied to adapt a booster's spent stage as the core for a space station. Termed the 'wet stage' concept & later evaluated for the AAP cluster workshop configuration. Skylab@50

https://twitter.com/aisoffice/status/1666730362976845824

[mss]

22.06.1973 o 13:49:49 UTC nastąpiło wodowanie na Oceanie Spokojnym załogi misji Skylab SL-2/AS-206.

50 Years Ago: Skylab 2 Astronauts Splash Down After Record-Breaking 28-day Mission

[mss]

Oto patche dla całego programu Skylab jak i 3 misji załogowych: Skylab SL-2, SL-3 i SL-4 z 1973: