Skylab: the Human Side of a Scientific Mission
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SKYLAB: THE HUMAN SIDE OF A SCIENTIFIC MISSION Michael P. Johnson, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2007 APPROVED: J. Todd Moye, Major Professor Alfred F. Hurley, Committee Member Adrian Lewis, Committee Member and Chair of the Department of History Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Johnson, Michael P. Skylab: The Human Side of a Scientific Mission. Master of Arts (History), May 2007, 115pp., 3 tables, references, 104 titles. This work attempts to focus on the human side of Skylab, America’s first space station, from 1973 to 1974. The thesis begins by showing some context for Skylab, especially in light of the Cold War and the “space race” between the United States and the Soviet Union. The development of the station, as well as the astronaut selection process, are traced from the beginnings of NASA. The focus then shifts to changes in NASA from the Apollo missions to Skylab, as well as training, before highlighting the three missions to the station. The work then attempts to show the significance of Skylab by focusing on the myriad of lessons that can be learned from it and applied to future programs. Copyright 2007 by Michael P. Johnson ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not be possible without the help of numerous people. I would like to begin, as always, by thanking my parents. You are a continuous source of help and guidance, and you have never doubted me. Of course I have to thank my brothers and sisters. You may be older than me but you have always treated me as an equal and have always supported me. I owe much to the guidance of Dr. J. Todd Moye. Thank you for going out of your way, and out of your field, to help me with this project. Thank you also to the other instructors at the University of North Texas who have guided the beginning of my graduate work, especially Dr. Adrian Lewis, Dr. Al Hurley, and Dr. Richard Lowe. Since I stepped foot on campus I have been amazed by the quality of professors in the History department. Thank you so much for all those who worked on the Skylab program. Your hard work and dedication greatly influenced me and kept me motivated, and of course without it this work would not be possible. I would especially like to thank those who took time out of their busy schedules to talk with me: John Aaron, Lee Briscoe, Ed Fendell, Charles Lewis, Zach Kirkland, Gene Kranz, Earl Thompson, and Milton Windler. Finally, thank you to my many friends who have helped me and put up with me through this procedure. I especially thank Karen DiValerio and my other friends from Space Center Houston, my original inspiration. I thank my Aggie Awakening families for their spiritual support. Last but certainly not least, thanks to the graduate students in the History department who have struggled alongside me, especially Cody, Justin, Brian, Paul, Bianca, the ever helpful and ever patient Lisa, and all the others in the History Help Center. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................................................... 6 ASTRONAUT SELECTION...................................................................................................... 13 ASTRONAUT BACKGROUNDS............................................................................................. 16 MISSION CONTROL ................................................................................................................ 22 FROM APOLLO TO SKYLAB ................................................................................................. 26 TRAINING ................................................................................................................................. 33 SKYLAB LAYOUT AND EXPERIMENTS............................................................................. 38 SKYLAB I .................................................................................................................................. 47 SKYLAB II................................................................................................................................. 52 SKYLAB III................................................................................................................................ 57 SKYLAB IV ............................................................................................................................... 61 RESEARCH................................................................................................................................ 68 FROM SKYLAB TO THE SHUTTLE ...................................................................................... 71 LESSONS LEARNED................................................................................................................ 77 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 82 NOTES........................................................................................................................................ 83 Appendix A. HOURS FOR EACH MISSION....................................................................... 101 iv B. SKYLAB EVAs................................................................................................ 103 C. LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................... 105 REFERENCE............................................................................................................................ 109 v LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Skylab Astronauts ........................................................................................................... 13 2. Skylab Crew Branch Assignments.................................................................................. 32 3. Crew Assignments .......................................................................................................... 34 vi INTRODUCTION When President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, he officially created one of the largest and most influential government agencies of the United States. Through this act, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] replaced the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics [NACA] and changed the focus from aeronautics to space exploration.1 The creation of NASA came almost directly as a response to the launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. At this time, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in the Cold War, a major post-Second World War struggle between the democratic and communist nations. After the launch of this first satellite, the United States people felt threatened by the possibility of space being dominated by their rivals. This brought about the need for NASA. The two nations began the virtually unstated but ever present “Space Race” to reach the Moon and conquer space. The Soviet Union, with its early start, boasted much of the early “firsts” in space travel. On November 3, 1957, Laika, a dog, became the first living thing to orbit the Earth. Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space on April 12, 1961, a major victory in the space race. Alexei Leonov completed the first space walk on March 18, 1965. While the Russians first achieved a number of other accomplishments, NASA was only months behind. NASA truly took the lead in 1968, when the astronauts of Apollo VIII became the first humans to reach and orbit the Moon. The agency began with rather meager goals. The Mercury Project, with flights from 1961 to 1963, simply wanted to prove that humans could reach space consistently with one-man missions.2 With the Gemini Program, from 1964 to 1966, NASA slightly expanded its goals. This time each mission would include two astronauts who would demonstrate tasks, such as 1 rendezvous and Extravehicular Activities [EVAs or space walks], that were necessary for missions to the Moon.3 These first two programs led NASA to a much larger objective. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered what would become the most important speech in NASA’s brief history. Before a joint session of Congress, Kennedy declared that “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”4 A year later, on September 29, 1962, at Rice University in Houston, Texas, a city which soon would be home of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Kennedy outlined the immediate future of the space program. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we will accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.5 Later in the speech, he reiterated that “this will be done in the decade of the Sixties.” Gene Kranz calls Kennedy’s challenge a “marvelous piece of timing” because it gave NASA a goal