Milestones of Space by Michael J. Neufeld

Author:Michael J. Neufeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2014-12-03T05:00:00+00:00

Cutaway of the Orbital Workshop showing the main compartments arranged on two decks, including experimental areas, storage facilities, environmental control, and waste disposal systems. The micrometeoroid shield (far right) ripped off during launch. NASA

Reconfigured with Loewy’s advice, the cylindrical orbital workshop—forty-eight feet long and twenty-two feet in diameter—had two levels separated by an open metal lattice, a grid of small triangles designed so that the crewmembers could anchor themselves with special cleats attached to their shoes, like a bicyclist to his pedals. The floor and workshop walls had a similar grid, with grips and handholds for moving around in zero gravity. The lower level, essentially the living quarters, had sleeping compartments, a kitchen and dining area or wardroom where the crew could look out of Loewy’s “earth observation window,” a “waste management compartment” for personal hygiene, a collapsible shower, and an area for biomedical experiments. The larger forward compartment above it had freezers, food and water storage compartments, shielded film vaults, additional room for research equipment, and access to the airlocks. Below the living quarters, an empty, unused liquid oxygen tank served as Skylab’s garbage can, complete with a handy, though occasionally tricky, trash disposal airlock. For electrical power, Skylab was to rely on two interconnected arrays of solar panels, a matching pair of thirty-foot wings set on opposite sides of the orbital workshop, plus four longer, narrower solar panels mounted atop the ATM, like windmill vanes. Each array of silicon solar cells could generate four thousand watts, either for immediate use or to charge banks of batteries. The solar panels, hinged and carefully folded for launch, would be deployed in orbit.

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