Hello All,

While doing some historical research on the Skylab space station, I came across several references which include scale data. These would be useful for detailing a Skylab Saturn V model, whether it's the Dr. Zooch kit, a PMC (Plastic Model Conversion), a converted Estes or Centuri 1:100 scale Apollo Saturn V kit (or a converted Estes 1:242 scale, semi-scale Apollo Saturn V kit), or a scratch-built Skylab Saturn V. Here are the references, with links:


"Skylab, Our First Space Station" by Leland F. Belew (Editor)
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch1.htm

"SKYLAB: A Guidebook" by Ernst Stuhlinger and Leland F. Belew
http://history.nasa.gov/EP-107/contents.htm

"Skylab Explores the Earth"
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19820004619

"Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab" by William David and Charles D. Benson
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/contents.htm

"Biomedical Results from Skylab" by Richard S. Johnston and Lawrence F. Deitlein
http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/books/skyl...t_of_skylab.pdf

"A New Sun: The Solar Results from Skylab" by John A. Eddy and Edited by Rein Ise
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-402/contents.htm

"Skylab: Classroom in Space" Edited by Lee B. Summerlin
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-401/sp401.htm ALSO--below is a report on the Skylab launch mishap:

NASA INVESTIGATION BOARD REPORT ON THE INITIAL FLIGHT ANOMALIES OF SKYLAB I MAY 14, 1973:
http://klabs.org/richcontent/Report...ylab_Report.htm PLUS:

Here is a collection of Google-retrieved Skylab images (I had been searching under "Skylab meteoroid shield," but other Skylab images also came along with those):

https://www.google.com/images?hl=en...Bg&ved=0CCcQsAQ


I hope these references will be useful.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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NAR #54895 SR

What was the deal with other solar panel not 'popping out? They tried almost everything to make it come out. Too bad they didn't have Story Muskgrave and his crowbar.

__________________
If it flies, I can crash it!

Story was involved in the Skylab rescue effort, working on the ground. The book "Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story" by David Hitt, Owen Garriot, and Joe Kerwin (University of Nebraska Press, published 2008 [AbeBooks.com www.abebooks.com has copies of it at good prices]) covers his and all of the other folks' activities in detail. Regarding the stuck solar panel on the Orbital Workshop (OWS, the modified S-IVB stage section of Skylab), the failure of another Skylab subsystem triggered this problem:

Skylab's Meteoroid Shield (MS) (see: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/p244.htm , http://klabs.org/richcontent/Report...l/Fig_2_4_a.gif , and http://klabs.org/richcontent/Report...l/Fig_2_4_b.gif ) was a cylinder--made of folded, curved cylinder section panels (which were 0.025" thick aluminum sheets) that were hinged lengthwise--which, when deployed, would form a larger-diameter cylinder surrounding Skylab's OWS (Orbital Workshop) section. This larger cylinder would have "stood off" a few inches above the surface of the OWS, like a length of Estes BT-60 tubing surrounding a length of BT-55 tubing that is centered inside the BT-60 tube. For launch, a few of the lengthwise-hinged panels of the Meteoroid Shield were folded inward to lay on top of adjacent panels, creating a smaller-diameter cylinder that fit snugly around the outer surface of the OWS. Had the launch gone as planned, after orbit was reached these inward-folded panels would have unfolded, enlarging the cylinder's diameter so that it would still surround the OWS, but with a space of several inches between it and the OWS's outer surface. The Meteoroid Shield was also designed to serve as part of the OWS's passive thermal control system. But:

During ascent (a complete event timeline is here: "NASA INVESTIGATION BOARD REPORT ON THE INITIAL FLIGHT ANOMALES OF SKYLAB I MAY 14, 1973":
http://klabs.org/richcontent/Report...ylab_Report.htm ), the Meteoroid Shield was ripped away from the OWS by the high-velocity slipstream. It caused one OWS solar panel to deploy (which resulted in it being torn off--and that *could* have ripped open or punctured the OWS's pressure vessel, or even damaged the Saturn V's S-II stage below Skylab--luckily, it did neither!), and a remnant of the Meteoroid Shield wrapped around the other solar array. Although this caused great difficulties for Pete Conrad and Joe Kerwin when they struggled to free the jammed array after their (and Paul Weitz's) arrival at Skylab several days later, it was a blessing in disguise, because that array had started to deploy during ascent as well. If it had opened completely, it would have been torn off, too, and the "windmill" solar arrays on the ATM (Apollo Telescope Mount) couldn't have supplied enough electricity by themselves to enable all of Skylab's experiments to be carried out. Before the jammed OWS solar array was freed, the ATM solar arrays were just adequate to keep Skylab's critical systems supplied with electricity--the crew members even had to turn off lights whenever they left a room, in order to maintain a sufficient power margin.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Interesting...

I read somewhere that the meteoroid shield (which also served as a thermal shield in orbit, which is why the workshop rapidly overheated upon reaching orbit without it) didn't cause the damage to the solar array but did damage the linear shaped charge that separated the S-II cylindrical interstage from the bottom end of the S-II second stage... The Skylab Saturn V actually hauled the interstage all the way to orbit with the S-II, which a normal Saturn V would not have been able to do, but fortunately there was enough performance reserve on the Skylab launch for the S-II to make orbit with the additional weight. Evidently, the meteoroid shield had collided with the side of the interstage as it tumbled away after being ripped off, and somehow damaged the separation charges, preventing the interstage from jettisoning. Had that impact taken place further up the side of the S-II stage, it could have easily pierced the side of the LH2 tank, causing the stage to disintegrate in flight, or at the very least create a propellant leak sufficient enough to prevent the S-II stage and Orbital Workshop from reaching orbit.

From what I read, the solar array "wing" was released prematurely by the meteoroid shield tearing away, and was hence already deployed when the S-II stage's retrorocket separation motors fired to push the S-II away from the OWS. The blast from the retrorocket impinged on the already deployed (prematurely released) solar array and blew it off backwards, due it being exposed to forces it wasn't designed to handle. The second array had been pinned down partially deployed by a strap of aluminum, which prevented it from being in the line of blast impingement from the retrorockets of the S-II, which kept it from being ripped off as well. That allowed for the Skylab 1 crew to cut it free and get it deployed, providing enough power form the station.

So, basically, it was a miracle that Skylab made orbit at all, and a bigger miracle still that it was reparable and usable.

Later! OL JR

__________________
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Seconded (Interesting...)! I knew that the S-II's interstage failed to separate after that stage separated from the S-IC and ignited, but I'd never seen an explanation as to *why* the interstage stayed on the S-II, which stayed in orbit for over a year after the launch! I wouldn't be surprised if the S-II's truncated cone transition section (between its 33' diameter top and the 21.6' diameter Skylab S-IVB) *did* get "dinged" or even punctured by departing debris, but fortunately not badly enough to buckle under the aerodynamic and acceleration loads (being corrugated, it was a pretty stiff and tough structure)--a RocketCam on -that- flight would have been interesting to watch! Also:

The timeline here http://klabs.org/richcontent/Report...ylab_Report.htm lists every major and minor ascent event, normal as well as anomalous. I recall reading somewhere (maybe in George Alexanders's "Moonport U.S.A.") that the missing OWS solar panel array went at S-IC/S-II staging (the S-IC's retrorockets were more powerful--although *much* shorter-burning, of course--than the Redstone's engine), but I'm not sure. If that solar array made it into orbit, it was conceivable that the Skylab II CSM could have gone to get it (the four nose fairing panels [they called them SLA panels, like on lunar mission Saturn Vs], the S-II, and Skylab itself formed a "string of pearls" across the sky for several days after launch), but that array would likely have been badly banged up, plus grappling it from the CSM would have been very difficult at best! :-)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR