Mission Insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission Name:	Skylab IV
Call Sign:	Skylab 4
Number of Crew:	3
Launch:	November 16, 1973 14:01:23 UTC Kennedy Space Center LC 39B
Apogee:	437 km
Perigee:	422 km
Period:	93.11 min
Inclination:	50.04 deg
Station visit length:	83 d 4 h 38 min 12 s
Station EVA length:	22 h 21 min
Landing:	February 8, 1974 15:16:53 UTC 31°18′N 119°48′W
Duration:	84 d 1 h 15 min 31 s
Number of Orbits:	1,214
Distance Traveled:	~34,500,000 mi (~55,500,000 km)
Mass:	CSM ~20,000 kg
Crew Picture
Skylab 4 crew portrait (L-R: Carr, Gibson and Pogue)
Skylab 4 Crew

Skylab 4 or SL-4 was the fourth Skylab mission and placed the third crew on board. It started November 16, 1973, with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes. A total of 6,051 astronaut-utilization hours were tallied by Skylab 4 astronauts performing scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Earth resources, observation of the Comet Kohoutek and other experiments. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1095x1050, 1123 KB)[1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Coordinated Universal Time (UTC - see Abbreviation below for explanation) is a high-precision atomic time standard. ... Merritt Island and Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the NASA space vehicle launch facility (spaceport) at Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island in Florida, United States. ... The aerial view of Launch Complex 39. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Skylab 4 crew: Carr, Gibson, Pogue. ... Drawing of Skylab with components labelled Skylab was the first space station the United States launched into orbit. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... The Saturn IB was an uprated version of the Saturn I, which was the first manned launch vehicle that was not directly derived from an ICBM (though its tanks were derived from the Jupiter and Redstone tanks, and its first stage engines were Navaho derived). ... Comet by naked-eye Orbits of Comet Kohoutek and Earth Comet Kohoutek, formally designated C/1973 E1, 1973 XII, and 1973f, was first sighted on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek. ...

Crew

• Gerald Carr (1), commander
• William Pogue (1), pilot
• Edward Gibson (1), science pilot

*Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission. Gerald P. Carr is a retired United States Marine Corps Colonel and former NASA astronaut. ... William Reid Pogue (born January 23, 1930) was an American astronaut. ... Edward G. Gibson, Ph. ...

Backup Crew

• Vance Brand
• William B. Lenoir
• Don Lind

Vance DeVoe Brand is a former NASA astronaut. ... Note: this is not the William Lenoir that Lenoir County, North Carolina is named after. ... Don Leslie Lind is a former NASA astronaut who was born in Midvale, Utah on May 18, 1930. ...

Support Crew

• Robert Crippen
• Richard Truly
• Henry Hartsfield
• William Thornton

Official STS-1 portrait of Robert L. Crippen, May 7, 1979 Robert Laurel Crippen (b. ... Richard H. Truly (born November 12, 1937) is a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, former astronaut, and was the 8th Administrator of NASA from 1989 to 1992. ... Henry Warren (Hank) Hartsfield, Jr. ... William Edgar Thornton (M.D.) NASA Astronaut (former) Personal data Born in Faison, North Carolina, on April 14, 1929. ...

Mission parameters

• Mass: about 20,000 kg
• Maximum Altitude: 440 km
• Distance: 34.5 million miles (55,500,000 km)
• Launch Vehicle: Saturn IB
• Perigee: 422 km
• Apogee: 437 km
• Inclination: 50.04°
• Period: 93.11 min

The Saturn IB was an uprated verson of the Saturn I, which was the first manned launch vehicle that was not directly derived from an ICBM (though its tanks were derived from the Jupiter and Redstone tanks, and its first stage engines were Navaho derived). ... Perigee is the point at which an object in orbit around the Earth makes its closest approach to the Earth. ... This article is about several astronomical terms (apogee & perigee, aphelion & perihelion, generic equivalents based on apsis, and related but rarer terms. ... Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction. ... The orbital period is the time it takes a planet (or another object) to make one full orbit. ...

Docking

• Docked: November 16, 1973 - 21:55:00 UTC
• Undocked: February 8, 1974 - 02:33:12 UTC
• Time Docked: 83 days, 4 hours, 38 minutes, 12 seconds

November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Space walks

• Gibson and Pogue - EVA 1
• EVA 1 Start: November 22, 1973, 17:42 UTC
• EVA 1 End: November 23, 00:15 UTC
• Duration: 6 hours, 33 minutes
• Carr and Pogue - EVA 2
• EVA 2 Start: December 25, 1973, 16:00 UTC
• EVA 2 End: December 25, 23:01 UTC
• Duration: 1 hour, 01 minute
• Carr and Gibson - EVA 3
• EVA 3 Start: December 29, 1973, 17:00 UTC
• EVA 3 End: December 29, 20:29 UTC
• Duration: 3 hours, 29 minutes
• Carr and Gibson - EVA 4
• EVA 4 Start: February 3, 1974, 15:19 UTC
• EVA 4 End: February 3, 20:38 UTC
• Duration: 5 hours, 19 minutes

November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining for the year. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

See also

• Extra-vehicular activity
• List of spacewalks
• Splashdown

Astronaut Bruce McCandless on an untethered EVA Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. ... Related article Mir extra-vehicular activity (just an excerpt from the table above) List of ISS spacewalks (just an excerpt from the table above) External link NASA JSC Oral History Project: See link near page end to Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology PDF document. ... Atlantic splashdown locations of American spacecraft. ...

Mission highlights

Skylab as seen by the departing Skylab 4 crew

Last Skylab mission. Download high resolution version (1500x1553, 2236 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1500x1553, 2236 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

The all rookie astronaut crew had problems during adjusting to the same workload level as their predecessors when activating the workshop. One of its first tasks was to unload and stow within Skylab thousands of items needed for their lengthy mission. The schedule for the activation sequence dictated lengthy work periods with a large variety of tasks to be performed. The crew soon found themselves tired and behind schedule.

As the activation of Skylab progressed, the astronauts complained of being pushed too hard. Ground crews disagreed; they felt that the astronauts were not working long enough or hard enough. During the course of the mission, this culminated in the crew announcing an unscheduled day off, mutinying against Mission Control by turning off the communications radio while getting some rest. Eventually their workload was reduced.

By the end of their mission, the third crew had completed even more work than had been planned before launch.

On Thanksgiving Day, Gibson and Pogue accomplished a 6 1/2 hour spacewalk. The first part of their spacewalk was spent replacing film in the solar observatory. The remainder of the time was used to repair a malfunctioning antenna. Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks, traditionally to God, for the things one has at the end of the harvest season. ...

The crew reported that the food was good, but slightly bland. The crew would have preferred to use more condiments to enhance the taste of the food. The amount of salt they could use was restricted for medical purposes. The quantity and type of food consumed was rigidly controlled because of their strict diet.

Seven days into their mission, a problem developed in the Skylab attitude control gyroscope system, which threatened to bring an early end to the mission. A gyroscope For other uses, see Gyroscope (disambiguation). ...

Skylab depended upon three large gyroscopes, sized so that any two of them could provide sufficient control and maneuver Skylab as desired. The third acted as a backup in the event of failure of one of the others.

The gyroscope failure was attributed to insufficient lubrication. Later in the mission, a second gyroscope showed similar problems, but special temperature control and load reduction procedures kept the second one operating, and no further problems occurred. Lubrication occurs when opposing surfaces are completely separated by a lubricant film. ...

The crew spent many hours looking at the Earth. Carr and Pogue alternately manned controls, operating the sensing devices which measured and photographed selected features on the Earth's surface. When not otherwise occupied, they watched through the workshop window as the Earth rolled steadily beneath them.

Solar observations were made, with about 75,000 new telescopic images of the Sun recorded. Images were taken in the X-ray, ultraviolet, and visible portions of the spectrum. In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X. An X-ray picture (radiograph) taken by Röntgen An X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength approximately in the range of 5 pm to 10 nanometers (corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz... The solar corona as seen in deep ultraviolet light at 17. ...

As the end of their mission drew closer, Gibson continued his watch of the solar surface. On January 21, 1974, an active region on the Sun's surface formed a bright spot which intensified and grew. Gibson quickly began filming the sequence as the bright spot erupted. This film was the first recording from space of the birth of a solar flare. A Solar Flare and CME, courtesy NASA A solar flare is a violent explosion in the Suns atmosphere with an energy equivalent to a billion megatons, traveling normally at about 1 million km per hour (about 0. ...

On December 13, the crew sighted Comet Kohoutek and trained the solar observatory and hand-held cameras on it. They continued to photograph it as it approached the Sun. On December 30, as it swept out from behind the Sun, Carr and Gibson spotted it as they were performing a spacewalk. Comet by naked-eye Orbits of Comet Kohoutek and Earth Comet Kohoutek, formally designated C/1973 E1, 1973 XII, and 1973f, was first sighted on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek. ...

The crew also photographed the earth from orbit. Despite instructions not to do so, the crew (perhaps inadvertently) photographed Area 51, causing a minor dispute between various government agencies as to whether the photographs showing this secret facility should be released. Ultimately, they were not. Landsat pseudocolor satellite photo of Groom Lake, taken around 2000 Area 51 (currently known as Air Force Flight Test Center, Detachment 3 and also known as Dreamland, Watertown Strip, Paradise Ranch, The Box, Groom Lake) is a remote tract of land in southern Nevada, located at , at the southern edge...

Skylab 4 completed 1,214 Earth orbits and four EVAs totalling 22 hours, 13 minutes. They traveled 34.5 million miles (55,500,000 km) in 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes in space.

Image Gallery

Astronaut Gerald P. Carr jokingly demonstrates weight training in zero-gravity Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (422x640, 231 KB) Astronaut Gerald P. Carr, Commander for the Skylab 4 mission, jokingly demonstrates weight training in zero-gravity as he balances astronaut William R. Pogue, pilot, upside down on his finger. ...	Astronaut Gerald Carr floats in forward dome Image File history File links SL4-150-5075. ...	Astronaut Edward Gibson stands at Apollo Telescope Mount Image File history File links Gibson_przy_ATM.jpg‎ Astronaut Edward Gibson stands at Apollo Telescope Mount in Skylab Description: Scientist-Astronaut Edward G. Gibson, Skylab 4 science pilot, stands at the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) console in the Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit. ...	Astronaut Gerald P. Carr flies the Astronaut Maneuvering Equipment in the OWS Image File history File links S74-17305. ...
Astronaut Edward Gibson sails through airlock module hatch Image File history File links SL4-150-5074. ...	Skylab 4 crew confer via television communication with Dr. Kohoutek Image File history File links Skylab_SL_4_crew. ...	William R. Pogue pauses in hatchway of Skylab 4 Image File history File links 74PC-32-m. ...	The Apollo module for Skylab 4 is now on display in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1512x2016, 398 KB) Pictures taken by Raul654 around Washington DC on May 7, 2005. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Flag Seal Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location Location of Washington, D.C., with regard to the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. ...

References

• Skylab: Command service module systems handbook, CSM 116 - 119 (PDF) April 1972
• Skylab Saturn 1B flight manual (PDF) September 1972
• NASA Skylab Chronology
• Marshall Space Flight Center Skylab Summary
• Skylab 4 Characteristics SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK
• [1]
• Source: [2]
• Gilles Clement, Fundamentals of Space Medicine, Microcosm Press, 2003. pp. 212.

This article contains material that originally came from a NASA website. According to their site usage guidelines, "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". For more information, please review NASA's use guidelines. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States Government, responsible for that nations public space program. ... Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ...

Skylab
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