Word: launching
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...provide more electrical power, the astronauts would have to take a space walk outside the ship this week and attempt to free the inoperative solar panel that remains jammed in the side of the orbital workshop (the other workshop panel was ripped off completely during Skylab's launch...
That eventually caused the opening of some circuit breakers, which are set to trip when 80% of a battery's power has been drained. Although the astronauts were able to recharge the batteries after Skylab resumed its normal orientation toward the sun, another battery -the second since launch-failed completely; still others were operating at much less than full power. The batteries had apparently been damaged both by high temperatures and by the added work load put on them...
...well be the last manned mission to Skylab. If we can't fix the solar panel, we might not be able to keep the lab alive long enough to get another crew up there." Indeed, as concern grew about possible further deterioration of the batteries, NASA advanced the launch date of the second Skylab crew from the originally scheduled Aug. 8 to July...
...labs and workshops of the space agency's private contractors -worked feverishly to put together the assortment of gear and tools that was needed to repair Skylab. The astronauts themselves practiced the various repair possibilities. Indeed, these activities continued until the very eve of last week's launch; so many new and untried procedures were involved that the command module was not fully loaded until four hours before Friday's liftoff...
...preparations involved an extraordinary race against the clock. If the repair kit had not been ready in time, the launch would have had to be postponed for another day, until Skylab again moved into favorable position for a rendezvous. Meanwhile, the condition of the orbiting laboratory might have worsened to the point where any thought of salvage would have had to be abandoned. In fact, despite all efforts to bring down the temperatures inside the orbital workshop by changing the ship's angle relative to the sun, the heat again soared to more than 125° (after hovering around...