COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Great Images in Nasa Collection
Record
Title:
Skylab and Earth Limb
Full Description:
An overhead view of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in Earth orbit as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home. The space station is contrasted against the pale blue Earth. During launch on May 14, 1973, some 63 seconds into flight, the micrometeor shield on the Orbital Workshop (OWS) experienced a failure that caused it to be caught up in the supersonic air flow during ascent. This ripped the shield from the OWS and damaged the tie downs that secured one of the solar array systems. Complete loss of one of the solar arrays happened at 593 seconds when the exhaust plume from the S-II's separation rockets impacted the partially deployed solar array system. Without the micrometeoroid shield that was to protect against solar heating as well, temperatures inside the OWS rose to 126 degrees fahrenheit. The gold "parasol" clearly visible in the photo, was designed to replace the missing micrometeoroid shield, protecting the workshop against solar heating. The replacement solar shield was deployed by the Skylab I crew. This enabled the Skylab Orbital Workshop to fulfill all its mission objects serving as home to additional crews before being deorbited in 1978.
Date:
02/08/1974
NASA Center:
Johnson Space Center
Subject Category:
Skylab
Keywords:
Apollo
Keywords:
Array
Keywords:
Command
Keywords:
Micrometeoroid
Keywords:
Module
Keywords:
Orbital
Keywords:
Parasol
Keywords:
S-II
Keywords:
Service
Keywords:
Shield
Keywords:
Skylab
Keywords:
Solar
Keywords:
Workshop
Audience:
General Public
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
PARASOL
facet_what:
Skylab
facet_where:
Johnson Space Center (JSC)
facet_when:
02-08-1974
facet_when:
1978
facet_when:
May 14, 1973
facet_when_year:
1973
facet_when_year:
1974
facet_when_year:
1978
Image #:
SL4-143-4706
UID:
SPD-GRIN-GPN-2000-001055
Center:
JSC
Center Number:
SL4-143-4706
GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-001055
Creator-Photographer:
NASA
Original Source:
DIGITAL
