Space Rocket History #420 – Skylab – Skylab 3 – De-orbit, Re-entry, & Splashdown

Posted on August 10, 2023 by Mike Annis

“The thing I remember about reentry was not positioning some RCS switches correctly. We got behind and Owen could not read my notes in the checklist because of the limited space (and my ‘unique’ penmanship). I said, ‘Give me the book, and I’ll reconfigure the switches.’ So he gave me the book; then I reconfigured a few. I had a lot of other things going on, and I didn’t reconfigure them all. About ten minutes later, we began to drift out of attitude and we got a master alarm” Alan Bean

Parachute Deployment

Frogmen Enter the Water after Splashdown

Command Module in the Pacific

Jun 01

Space Rocket History #415 – Skylab – Skylab 3 – Rescue Mission Part 2

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Mike Annis

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“Near the end of our preparation period, management said; Well, we believe, we can do this, now let’s set about to see how we can get them down without expending the resources for a rescue mission. So just overnight we changed goals.” Vance Brand

Skylab Rescue Mission Patch

Crippled CSM Docked at Skylab

Garriott Exercises with the Cycle Ergometer

May 17

Space Rocket History #414 – Skylab – Skylab 3 – Rescue Mission Part 1

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Mike Annis

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“I think for me that was probably the low point of the mission because it threatened our ability to get our job done, and I wasn’t willing to come home. I’ve never been afraid of space, but that was a fear that I had (losing the mission) more than anything else.” Jack Lousma

Five Seat Skylab Rescue Command Module

Skylab Rescue Mission Crew-Vance Brand, Don Lind

Multiple Docking Adapter

Nov 16

Space Rocket History #402 – Skylab – Training Part 2

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Mike Annis

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The backup crew and some support crew participated in an interesting rescue scenario with 2 astronauts flying to Skylab to take back the crew of 3 onboard Skylab. This would mean 5 astronauts returning to earth in the command module.