The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disasters

Weitz added: “Zero-G is both good and bad. It’s a great environment for moving around, to play in, and to work in, but it’s not so good when it comes to things like going to the bathroom or brushing your teeth and you like to spit the toothpaste out into the sink and watch it go down the tube, instead of having to spit it out into a used towel, or something like that. The bathroom became the barber shop every few weeks, the barbers sucking the cropped hair away with little vacuum cleaners.”

The Skylab 3 mission was from 28 July until 25 September 1973, a duration of 59 days. The crew of Al Bean, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma had some problems with the thrusters on their Service Module. Houston considered sending a rescue mission with a module modified to fit five astronauts, but the readings improved and the problem was not as serious as it had seemed.

The crew enjoyed sun watching. Their watches at the solar console were the only form of privacy they had, but they could watch the sun any time they wanted. There was constant solar activity – filaments streaking up, flares, enormous bubbles forming and bursting.

When the Skylab 4 mission arrived they found the station was already occupied – the previous mission had left three stuffed flightsuits behind! William Pogue, Edward Gibson and Gerald Carr would stay for 84 days. Gibson:

“It was a shame to read with all that was going on outside. I would read a little when Skylab was over water, but when we reached the shore I would put the book down, and look at the continent below.

“Carr would sneak off to the Command Module, the most private place, turn the speaker off, and get some reading done that way.”

On 21 January 1974 they made the first observation of a solar flare. The crew protested at their heavy workload and refused to work as hard as the crew of Skylab 2. Lindsay:

On February 9, after some experiments such as erasing a computer memory and reloading it, Skylab was put in a vertical attitude with the docking hatch looking away from Earth in the hope this would prolong its life, and at 2 pm the last command was sent to switch the telemetry off. By this time the laboratory was showing signs of wear and tear. The gleaming gold, white, and silver paint on the outside was becoming tarnished, the white paint had browned and the gold had baked and blackened. Despite the initial setbacks, Skylab had met, or exceeded, every requirement placed upon it.

Originally planned for 140 days, Skylab was manned for 171 days, 13 hours, and 14 minutes, taking the crews around the Earth 2,476times, a distance of 113,455,650 kilometres. This was a lot more than all the previous American manned spaceflights put together, which totalled 146 days, 21 hours, 36 minutes, and 8 seconds. 565 hours of Sun observations were planned, 755 were actually spent; 701 hours of medical experiments grew to 822 hours; and instead of only 60 Earth observation passes, they eventually completed 90.

Soviets’ 20G return to Earth

On 5 April 1975 the Soviets had to abort a mission after 261 seconds. The second stage failed to drop off due to wiring errors made during manufacture. The vehicle began rolling out of control. The cosmonauts had to separate from their booster. Cosmonaut Vasily Lazarev described the experience of their 20G return to Earth: “It ate all sound, leaving only wheezes and grunts.”