Skylab Rescue - History

History

Plans for outfitting an Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) as a space rescue vehicle date back to November 1965 when North American Rockwell technicians conceived the possibility of a rescue mission for astronauts trapped in lunar orbit., After a rescue mission in Earth orbit was depicted in the 1969 film Marooned, the company revived the concept in November 1970. Marshall Space Flight Center issued a formal Mission Requirements document on 17 May 1972, with subsequent revisions. The standard Skylab Command Module accommodated a crew of three with storage lockers on the aft bulkhead for resupply of experiment film and other equipment, as well as the return of exposed film, data tapes and experiment samples. To convert the standard CSM to a rescue vehicle, the storage lockers were removed and replaced with two crew couches to seat five crewmen.

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