Word: skylab
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...largest, most sophisticated spacecraft ever built. Launched in May 1973 it was occupied by three different teams of astronauts in succession, one of which remained aloft for 84-days, a space endurance record that was not broken until this March by two Soviet cosmonauts. Now the 85-ton Skylab, unused by astronauts since 1974 but still circling 389 km (242 miles) above the earth every 90 minutes, is in deep trouble. Gradually moving lower, it may enter the atmosphere and disintegrate by November 1979 or even earlier. Large chunks of Skylab might well survive the fiery plunge through...
NASA officials originally expected Skylab to remain in orbit for at least a decade. That would have allowed ample time for the space shuttle to rendezvous with the space station and help boost it to a higher orbit, extending its lifetime indefinitely. But now the shuttle, plagued by engine problems, is at least four months behind schedule and there will be no manned flight before December 1979, which could be too late to save Skylab...
Meantime, NASA is concerned about another reminder of the varied and un predictable hazards of throwing earthly spheres into space. There has been some slippage in the earth orbit of the space agency's big Skylab space station, which was launched in 1973 and should not have begun declining in its orbit until 1983. It packs no nuclear punch, but no one would want to be near it if it falls...
...astronaut record of 84 days in orbit. If all goes according to plan, the Soviets will have shown that they can keep a permanent observatory in the sky, staffed by relays of spaceships bringing up fresh supplies and personnel. By contrast, during the U.S.'s comparable Skylab missions in 1973 and 1974, no more than a single Apollo ferry ship at one time ever docked with the station, and the space station was left unmanned for weeks...
Other sure eye-catchers are Collins' own spacecraft and the Friendship Seven Mercury capsule that carried John Glenn on the first U.S. orbital flight. Perhaps the most appealing exhibit in the Space Hall, another of the great bays, is the massive black and gold Skylab space station. The only bottleneck in the building is at Skylab's narrow portal, where crowds line up to enter. Says Collins...