 Skylab B Orbital Workshop at the National Air and Space Museum | |
| Station statistics | |
|---|---|
| Call sign | Skylab B, International Skylab, Advanced Skylab |
| Crew | 3 |
| Launch | canceled (currently at theNational Air and Space Museum inWashington D.C.) |
| Mass | 77,088 kg |
| Height | 58 feet 5 inches (17.81 m) |
| Diameter | 21 feet 8 inches (6.60 m) |
| Days occupied | planned 56 to 90 days |
Skylab B was a proposed second USspace station similar toSkylab that was planned to be launched byNASA for different purposes,[1][2] mostly involving theApollo–Soyuz Test Project, but was canceled due to lack of funding. Two Skylab modules were built in 1970 byMcDonnell Douglas for the Skylab program, originally theApollo Applications Program. The first was launched in 1973 and the otherput in storage, while NASA considered how to use the remaining assets from Apollo.
One considered option was to useSaturn V SA-515 to launch the backup Skylab station into orbit sometime between January 1975 and April 1976.[3] That way, it could expand theApollo–Soyuz mission by 56–90 days.
Further proposals were made for an International Skylab, launched using Saturn V SA-514. This station would have been serviced by Apollo,Soyuz and later by theSpace Shuttle.[3] The vision of aninternational space station would not be realized until two decades later.
Some uses considered for the second Skylab module included putting it into a rotation mode where it could generate artificial gravity and a plan to celebrate the 1976United States Bicentennial with the launch of two Soviet Soyuz missions to the back-up Skylab.[4]
In preparation for theApollo–Soyuz Test Project,McDonnell Douglas proposed a massive station by combining aSalyut station with Skylab B.This would be achieved by launching an Apollo with a multipledocking adapter with 4 docking ports to be able to dock both stations and servicing vehicles (Soyuz and Apollo).[5] The joint US-USSR mission would have possibly been calledInternational Skylab. Modifications would have had to have been made to the Skylab B to support a mixed oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere to match the Salyut's atmosphere, or an airlock would have been needed to be installed to allow passage between the mixed atmosphere of the Soviet segment to the pure oxygen environment of the American segment.
For future missions, the station, which would have then been called theAdvanced Skylab, could have been expanded by theSpace Shuttle, which was due to enter service in 1979. At the time (1973) the idea was discussed, NASA still had twoSaturn V launchers (SA-514 and SA-515), threeSaturn IB boosters (SA-209, SA-210, SA-211), the back-up Skylab space station (Skylab B), threeApollo CSMs (CSM-117, CSM-118 and CSM-119) and twoLunar Modules in storage (LM-13, LM-14).
However, after the first Skylab was launched in May 1973, the plan for the Skylab B was canceled and the Apollo/Soyuz spacecraft had to use the Docking Module launched on the Apollo-Saturn IB for performing experiments in space. After Project Apollo ended and as NASA was moving to developing the Space Shuttle, the remaining Apollo hardware was donated to museums in 1976.
It was expected at the time by those involved that the initial crew would be the crew which served as backup forSkylab 3 andSkylab 4, and was kept in reserve for theSkylab Rescue mission (minus the science pilot):[6]
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Vance D. Brand | |
| Science Pilot | William Lenoir | |
| Pilot | Don L. Lind | |
TheApollo Command Module CSM-119 was originally used forSkylab Rescue. It is on display atKennedy Space Center.
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Saturn IB SA-209 was originally used forSkylab Rescue.
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TheSaturn V SA-514 was originally designated for canceledApollo 19. It was proposed for launching anInternational Skylab. This station would have been serviced by Apollo,Soyuz and later by theSpace Shuttle.[3]
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Saturn V SA-515 was originally designated forApollo 20, and later to launch the backup Skylab station into orbit sometime between January 1975 and April 1976.[3] That way, it could expand theApollo–Soyuz mission by 56–90 days.
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AnAirlock Module is on display at theEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum. The EVA Hatch is actually a repurposedGemini hatch, used as a way to reduce development costs by reusing old hardware.
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Multiple Docking Adapter is on display at theKennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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Notes: † Never inhabited due to launch or on-orbit failure, ‡ Part of theAlmaz military program, ° Never inhabited, lacks docking mechanism. | |||||||||
