Skylab 4
The final view of Skylab, from the departing mission 4 crew, with Earth in the background
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| Operator | NASA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COSPAR ID | 1973-090A | ||||
| SATCAT № | 6936 | ||||
| Mission duration | 84 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes, 30 seconds | ||||
| Distance travelled | 55,500,000 kilometers (34,500,000 mi) | ||||
| Orbits completed | 1214 | ||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||
| Spacecraft | Apollo CSM-118 | ||||
| Manufacturer | North American Rockwell | ||||
| Launch mass | 20,847 kilograms (45,960 lb) | ||||
| Crew | |||||
| Crew size | 3 | ||||
| Members | |||||
| Start of mission | |||||
| Launch date | November 16, 1973, 14:01:23 UTC | ||||
| Rocket | Saturn IB SA-208 | ||||
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B | ||||
| End of mission | |||||
| Recovered by | USS New Orleans | ||||
| Landing date | February 8, 1974, 15:16:53 UTC | ||||
| Landing site | 31°18′N 119°48′W / 31.300°N 119.800°W | ||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||
| Reference system | Geocentric | ||||
| Regime | Low Earth | ||||
| Perigee | 422 kilometers (262 mi) | ||||
| Apogee | 437 kilometers (272 mi) | ||||
| Inclination | 50.0 degrees | ||||
| Period | 93.11 minutes | ||||
| Epoch | January 21, 1974 | ||||
| Docking with Skylab | |||||
| Docking port | Forward | ||||
| Docking date | November 16, 1973, 21:55:00 UTC | ||||
| Undocking date | February 8, 1974, 02:33:12 UTC | ||||
| Time docked | 83 days, 4 hours, 38 minutes, 12 seconds | ||||
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Due to a NASA management error, manned Skylab mission patches were designed in conflict with the official mission numbering scheme.
Left to right: Carr, Gibson and Pogue
Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the third manned Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew aboard the first American space station.
The mission started on November 16, 1973 with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida and lasted 84 days, one hour and 16 minutes. A total of 6,051 astronaut-utilization hours were tallied by Skylab 4 astronauts performing scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Earth resources, observation of the Comet Kohoutek and other experiments.
The manned Skylab missions were officially designated Skylab 2, 3, and 4. Mis-communication about the numbering resulted in the mission emblems reading Skylab I, Skylab II, and Skylab 3 respectively.
Skylab 4 was the fourth out of five all-rookie crews launched by NASA (the others being Gemini 4, Gemini 7, Gemini 8 and STS-2).
Skylab 4 was the last Skylab mission.
The crew arrived aboard Skylab to find that they had company – three figures dressed in flight suits. Upon closer inspection, they found their companions were three dummies, complete with Skylab 4 mission emblems and name tags which had been left there by Al Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott at the end of Skylab 3.
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Wikipedia