Skylab 2 - Mission Highlights

Mission Highlights

Launched on May 25, 1973, the first Skylab crew's most urgent job was to repair the space station. Skylab's meteorite-and-sun shield and one of its solar arrays had torn loose during launch, and the remaining primary solar array was jammed. Without its shield, Skylab baked in the sunshine. The crew had to work fast, because high temperatures inside the workshop would release toxic materials and ruin on-board film and food.

As Conrad flew their Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) near the station, Weitz unsuccessfully attempted to deploy the surviving solar array from the CSM's hatch while Kerwin held onto his legs. The astronauts found that their tools were inadequate, and had to use a backup method to dock the CSM to Skylab after several other methods failed. From inside, they deployed a collapsible parasol with telescoping rods as a replacement sunshade. The fix worked, and temperatures inside dropped low enough for the crew's comfort.

Two weeks later Conrad and Kerwin freed the stuck solar panel during a second EVA, increasing the electricity flowing to their new home. Conrad and Kerwin prepared for this EVA by simulating the requirements in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Without power from the panel, the second and third Skylab missions would have been unable to perform their main experiments, and the station's critical battery system would have been seriously degraded. During this EVA, the sudden deployment of the solar panel structure caused both astronauts to be flung from the Skylab hull, testing the astronauts' nerves as well as the strength of their safety tethers. After recovering their composure, both astronauts returned to their positions on Skylab and completed the EVA.

For nearly a month they made further repairs to the workshop, conducted medical experiments, gathered solar and Earth science data, and performed a total of 392 hours of experiments. The mission tracked two minutes of a large solar flare with the Apollo Telescope Mount; they took and returned some 29,000 frames of film of the sun. The Skylab 2 astronauts spent 28 days in space, which doubled the previous U.S. record. The mission ended successfully on June 22, 1973, when Skylab 2 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 9.6 km from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga. Skylab 2 set the records for the longest duration manned spaceflight, greatest distance traveled and greatest mass docked in space. Conrad set the record for most time in space for an astronaut.