May 04

Space Rocket History #388 – Skylab – Pre-history – MOL Part 2

Strangely enough the MOL astronauts only knew of the cover story that the program would be a space laboratory for military experiments and did not learn of the reconnaissance role until after selection.

Manned Orbiting Laboratory

Mockup of MOL

Gemini B Heat Shield with Hatch

Apr 20

Space Rocket History #387 – Skylab – Pre-history – Dyna-Soar & MOL

NASA feasibility studies determined that a research space laboratory could be placed in orbit by 1967. However, to fund such a project it had to be justified by achieving a national goal, or an important science goal, or test of technology.

X-20 Dyna-Soar

MOL Configuration

Gemini B

Apr 06

Space Rocket History #386 – Skylab – Pre-history

A scant five months after Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December of 1972, NASA launched Skylab to begin a new phase of American manned spaceflight – space station operations.

Outpost

A Home in Space

Apollo ‘A’

Sep 28

Space Rocket History #178 – Apollo 9 – The Crew – McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart

James Alton “Jim” McDivitt was born on June 10, 1929, in  Chicago, Illinois. He is of  Irish descent. Like many other astronauts, he was a  Boy Scout and earned the rank of Tenderfoot Scout. He graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1947.

James McDivitt

James McDivitt

David Scott

David Scott

Russell Schweickart

Russell Schweickart