Word: skylab
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sunlight glinted off the object looming larger in the command module window, and Astronaut Charles ("Pete") Conrad Jr.'s exuberant voice came crackling across space: "Tallyho! Skylab!" As he maneuvered the Apollo spaceship closer to the windmill-shaped orbiting laboratory, Conrad gave crewmates Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz-and millions watching their TV screens on earth-a closeup look at the damaged Skylab...
Barely more than a minute after the orbiting laboratory was launched two weeks ago, ground controllers knew that Skylab was in trouble. Telemetered signals indicated that the meteoroid-and-heat-shield protecting the workshop and living quarters of the craft had been ripped away. The telemetry also seemed to confirm that one of the workshop's twin electricity-producing solar panels had sheared off, and the other had been jammed by debris from the shield...
...surveying the jammed solar panel and the remnants of the meteoroid shield, the skipper was reassured. "I think we can take care of it," he told relieved flight controllers in Houston. Several hours later, it appeared that NASA'S ingenious salvage operation-and indeed the entire $2.5 billion Skylab mission-might end in failure...
Conrad's optimistic appraisal, following the flawless launch of the Skylab astronauts and their successful rendezvous with the space lab, had raised high hopes that the trouble-plagued ship could be put back in order. Thus, after Apollo docked with the orbiting laboratory and the astronauts had dinner, word was flashed to Conrad to begin the first phase of the repair operation...
...attempt to free the solar panel that had been jammed by Skylab's meteoroid shield...