Skylab 3

Skylab 3
Skylab as seen by the arriving Skylab 3 crew
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1973-050A
SATCAT no.6757
Mission duration59 days, 11 hours, 09 minutes, 01 seconds
Distance travelled39,400,000 kilometers (24,500,000 mi)
Orbits completed858
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftApollo CSM-117
ManufacturerNorth American Rockwell
Launch mass20,121 kilograms (44,359 lb)
Crew
Crew size3
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 28, 1973; 51 years ago (July 28, 1973)
RocketSaturn IB SA-207
Launch siteKennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Recovered byUSS New Orleans
Landing dateSeptember 25, 1973, 22:19:51 (1973-09-25UTC22:19:52Z) UTC
Landing site30°47′N 120°29′W / 30.783°N 120.483°W / 30.783; -120.483
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude423 kilometers (263 mi)
Apogee altitude441 kilometers (274 mi)
Inclination50.0 degrees
Period93.2 minutes
EpochAugust 8, 1973[1]
Docking with Skylab
Docking portForward
Docking dateJuly 28, 1973, 19:37:00 UTC
Undocking dateSeptember 25, 1973, 11:16:42 UTC
Time docked58 days, 15 hours, 39 minutes, 42 seconds

Due to a NASA management error, crewed Skylab mission patches were designed in conflict with the official mission numbering scheme.

L-R: Garriott, Lousma and Bean
Skylab program

Skylab 3 (also SL-3 and SLM-2[2]) was the second crewed mission to the first American space station, Skylab. The mission began on July 28, 1973, with the launch of NASA astronauts Alan Bean, Owen Garriott, and Jack Lousma in the Apollo command and service module on the Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 59 days, 11 hours and 9 minutes.[3] A total of 1,084.7 astronaut-utilization hours were tallied by the Skylab 3 crew performing scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Earth resources, and other experiments.

The crewed Skylab missions were officially designated Skylab 2, 3, and 4.[4] Miscommunication about the numbering resulted in the mission emblems reading "Skylab I", "Skylab II", and "Skylab 3" respectively.[2][5]

  1. ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Skylab Numbering Fiasco". Living in Space. William Pogue Official WebSite. 2007. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  3. ^ "Skylab 3 Characteristics SP-4012 NASA Historical Data Book". NASA. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  4. ^ "NASA Skylab Chronology". NASA. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  5. ^ Pogue, William. "Naming Spacecraft: Confusion Reigns". collectSPACE. Retrieved April 24, 2011.