Skylab photos on Flickr

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Launch: May 25, 1973

Landing: June 22, 1973

Astronauts: Charles C. Conrad Jr., Paul J. Weitz, and Joseph Kerwin

This is the emblem for the first crewed Skylab mission: Skylab 2. The crew made critical major repairs to the damage Skylab sustained when it was launched. Without the repairs made by Conrad and his crew, the entire Skylab program would have ended. The mission included three spacewalks and lasted 28 days—twice the previous record for the length of a space mission.

The patch, designed by artist Kelly Freas, shows the Skylab space station silhouetted against the Earth's globe, which in turn is eclipsing the sun.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA

Image Number: S72-52630

Date: February 1972

Skylab by ART BY LANARI

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sl_v_bw_o_n (108-KSC-72P-428) by Mike Acs

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“The Skylab Orbital Workshop was mated with its Saturn V launch vehicle in the Vehicle Assembly Building today.”

The LAST Saturn V launch vehicle. Bittersweet & sad to contemplate.

Is that a covered/mothballed? stage laying on its side behind the truck? And something, vertically oriented, further behind that…with a domed apex? Maybe some ASTP parts & pieces still wrapped up?

I’d be willing to wager these are the two - S-IVB (maybe?) stages - that were placed in storage…that I recall seeing photos of here & there/now & then.

I would appear to be - I think - correct:

www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/001549.html

Credit: collectSPACE website

spaceflightblunders.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/saving-the-s...

Credit: ‘Spaceflight Blunders & Greatness’ website

The OWS exterior visible in this photograph is, for the most part, the side visible in the majority of my on-orbit photos taken by the first crew during the initial fly around inspection.

For reference, the long narrow white strip running up & down near the right ‘limb’ is the surviving solar wing. Many other features, fairings/protuberances, etc., can then be correlated in multiple photos.

And, for the truly discerning eye, note both the squarish, (with rounded corners) outlined area at the farthest left periphery of the OWS, and up/ forward of/from that, a smaller darker area/feature. The former, if I recall correctly, being an access panel, and the latter marking the location of a scientific airlock - the one used to deploy the initial parasol/sun shield.

The subject matter (space flight hardware), coupled with the exquisite satin sheen (featured on a number of black & white NASA photos during this period), the ‘sepia’ tone & amazing resolution make this photo amazing.

If Ansel Adams were to have photographed something in the VAB, this is what it would’ve looked like.

sl_v_bw_o_n (1971, unnumbered photo, Arasmith) by Mike Acs

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"Artist's drawing depicts orbiting skylab. Living quarters are in lower section at left. Above that is workshop compartment. Airlock leads from workshop to docking adapter to which Apollo spacecraft is connected. Telescope with four solar panels is mounted on side."

Also, at the 1:07 mark:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smp9m7vcE-Q

Credit: Parka Blogs/YouTube

A very very nice work by Russell Arasmith, who - get this - has his OWN gallery of works, AND bio, at the online Marshall Space Art Gallery online:

artgallery.msfc.nasa.gov/russ-arasmith-bio.html

Specifically:

artgallery.msfc.nasa.gov/ra-room3-7.html

Ohhh, never mind, brilliant NASA hierarchy decremented the site, so disregard all after "get this".

Thank you, may I have another.

And...since the MSFC sites are semi-regularly jacked up/or otherwise inaccessible:

www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/arasmith.html

Specifically. Note the differences in crew member placements/activity:

www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/russ-arasmith-skyla...

And he wasn't even a NASA artist. Interesting, 99% of all the other artists are unknown to 99.9999% of the population, and although equally talented, are relegated to the anonymous abyss of the NASA artist's pool.

In Mr. Arasmith's rare instance, I assume due to a combination of volume of work, LA Times tie (Editorial Art Director for 17 years), talent, and frankly, based on my read of his bio, what amounts to his request to be remembered - made it happen. Good for him, another small "win"!

I'll be damned if I can find it again; however, I came upon this image online...somewhere, but with slight variations, to include the re-positioning of the astronauts, inclusion of one testing the AMU and Mr. Arasmith’s signature being present.

Memories must be preserved:

www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/westminster-ca/russell...

Credit: Dignity Memorial website

A Rocket Becomes a Space Habitat (NASA Archive, 01/01/70) by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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In the 1970s, turning a rocket into a habitat was an affordable way for NASA to build a space station with existing hardware. The Skylab concept that used Saturn V rocket hardware allowed NASA to build a space station during a fiscally constrained time when budgets for space missions decreased at the end of the Apollo lunar missons.This photograph was taken during assembly of the bottom and upper floors of the Skylab orbital workshop at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Image credit: NASA

View original image/caption:

mix.msfc.nasa.gov/abstracts.php?p=1266

View more Skylab images

www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157632646424119/

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

Skylab [WIP] by Jrathage

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1:110 scale.

eating-2.jpg by andrea landini

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30 Seconds Skylab by Reinhold Lotz

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Skylab overflight this evening

sl1_v_c_o_TPMBK (SL-1-111, erratum: SL2-1-111) by Mike Acs

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“This close up view of one of the two scientific airlocks on the Skylab Orbital Workshop Section was taken from the Skylab 2 Command/Service Module during its initial fly around inspection. The micrometeoroid shield can be seen to be missing from this section of the orbital workshop. A parasol solar shield was later devised and put in place over this damaged area through this very same airlock opening.”

AND/OR:

“The Saturn V vehicle, carrying the unmarned orbital workshop for the Skylab-1 mission, lifted off successfully and all systems performed normally. Sixty-three seconds into flight, engineers in the operation support and control center saw an unexpected telemetry indication that signalled that damages occurred on one solar array and the micrometeoroid shield during the launch. The micrometeoroid shield, a thin protective cylinder surrounding the workshop protecting it from tiny space particles and the sun's scorching heat, ripped loose from its position around the workshop. This caused the loss of one solar wing and jammed the other. Still unoccupied, the Skylab was stricken with the loss of the heat shield and sunlight beat mercilessly on the lab's sensitive skin. Internal temperatures soared, rendering the the station uninhabitable, threatening foods, medicines, films, and experiments. This image shows the sun-ravaged skin of the Orbital Workshop, bared by the missing heat shield, with blister scars and tarnish from temperatures that reached 300 degrees F. The rectangular opening at the upper center is the scientific airlock through which the parasol to protect the workshop from sun's rays was later deployed. This view was taken during a fly-around inspection by the Skylab-2 crew. The Marshall Space Flight Center had a major role in developing the procedures to repair the damaged Skylab.”

Against all odds, BOTH are at the following, respectively. WOOT, WOOT:

images.nasa.gov/details-sl2-01-111

images.nasa.gov/details-7042931

The second one being fed to the “NASA Image and Video Library” whoever(s) by MSFC whoever(s).

Since proof reading, quality control, attention to detail, knowledgeability & ability to articulate were all pretty much optional, the incorrect (IMHO) numeral ‘2’ was omitted from the photo ID. Although, in all fairness, this is minor compared to the parade of other egregious doozies. So, for search purposes, it should be SL2-1-111.

Finally, the photo, labeled as Figure 1-5, is referenced in "SP-404: Skylab's Astronomy and Space Sciences" as:

"Figure 1-5 shows the exterior of the Sun-facing airlock; the photograph was taken by the first Skylab crew before docking. The blistered appearance of the workshop was due to the loss of the micrometeoroid and heat shield, which caused bonding material to be irradiated by the Sun for several days. The parasol flown up with the first crew was deployed through this airlock. The workshop cooled down, but the airlock was blocked from further use in scientific experiments. Some instruments that would have used it were redesigned for spacewalks during later visits; others were used in the remaining (antisolar) airlock.

The antisolar airlock is shown in figure 1-6 from the inside of the workshop with a window installed and the outer door closed. The vacuum hose, wrapped around the airlock, was used for equipment depressurization. Film canisters, for example, were evacuated before they were stored in film vaults. The airlock was used sequentially for several instruments. Scheduling to obtain optimal data and to take advantage of targets of opportunity, such as Comet Kohoutek, was a continuing challenge to the Skylab astronauts and the ground planning teams, especially with the solar airlock occupied by the parasol.

A mirror with ultraviolet-reflecting surfaces was used in the ultraviolet stellar astronomy experiment (fig. 1-7) and with other instruments. It was mounted in the antisolar airlock and extended beyond the spacecraft wall where it could be tilted ±15° and rotated through 360° to scan the sky. Because of this maneuverability, instruments pointed at the mirror from inside Skylab could view a selected target on the celestial sphere without having to move the entire space station."

At/from:

history.nasa.gov/SP-404/ch1.htm

Skylab's Orbital Workshop (NASA Archive, 01/01/70) by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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Crews prepare Skylab’s orbital workshop -- This photograph was taken during installation of floor grids on the upper and lower floors inside the Skylab orbital workshop at the McDonnell Douglas plant at Huntington Beach, Calif. under the direction of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Image credit: NASA

View original image/caption:

mix.msfc.nasa.gov/abstracts.php?p=1270

View more Skylab images

www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157632646424119/

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

sl3_v_c_o_TPMBK (SL4-143-4676, 74-HC-93 eq) by Mike Acs

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“CLUSTER”

Alrighty then. Which brings to mind NASA ‘efforts’ at photo knowledgeability, identification, cataloging, display/posting, organization, etc., aka a “CLUSTER F**K.”

This at least, paraphrased:

“A view of Skylab taken by the third crew on the final fly-around inspection, specifically, a sun's-eye view of the telescope mount. The lines extending left and right from the hub of the mount are discone telemetry antennas. The corners of the original parasol are visible on both sides of the twin-pole sunshade.”

Above at/from:

history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/ch17.htm

Specifically:

history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/p337a.jpg

And/or, from a near equivalent view:

“THE SUN'S VIEW of Skylab was the smiling face of the ATM canister, surrounded by four solar-power wings. Above is the orbital workshop with patch-upon-patch of astronaut repairs and, extending to the left, the rectangular solar panel that provided the main electrical power. Features of the smiley face are the doors and other access ports to Skylab's solar telescopes.”

Above from/at:

history.nasa.gov/SP-402/ch4.htm

Specifically:

history.nasa.gov/SP-402/p51.jpg

Also at:

airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/space-race/online/sec500im...

Credit: Smithsonian NASM website

The near-equivalent view a frame later. Stunning:

archive.org/details/sl4-143-4677

Credit: Internet Archive website

And then there’s this…ugh:

www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/7449835...

Wernher von Braun con los motores F1 del cohete Saturno V. 1969 / Werner von Braun with Saturn V engines (F-1). 1969 by Jaime Gea

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Fotografía: NASA / Wikimedia Commons.

El Saturno V (Saturn V) fue un cohete desechable de múltiples fases y de combustible líquido usado en los programas Apolo y Skylab de la NASA. Cada motor tenía una altura de 5,5 metros y un diámetro de 3,8 metros. Desarrollado por Rocketdyne, es uno de los motores más potentes jamás construidos.

Wernher von Braun (Wirsitz, Imperio alemán 23 de marzo de 1912-16 de junio de 1977 Alexandria, Estados Unidos), fue un ingeniero mecánico y aeroespacial alemán. Nacionalizado estadounidense en 1955 con el fin de ser integrado en la NASA, fue uno de los más importantes diseñadores de cohetes del siglo XX. Fue el jefe de diseño del cohete V-2 en la Alemania nazi, así como del cohete Saturno V en los EEUU, para las misiones espaciales Apolo, que llevó al ser humano a la Luna.

The Saturn V (Saturn V) was a liquid-fueled, multi-stage expendable rocket used in NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs. Each engine had a height of 5.5 meters and a diameter of 3.8 meters. Developed by Rocketdyne, it is one of the most powerful engines ever built.

Wernher von Braun (Wirsitz, Germany March 23, 1912 - June 16, 1977, Alexandria, United States), was a German mechanical and aerospace engineer. He became a naturalized American in 1955 in order to be integrated into NASA and was one of the most important rocket designers of the 20th century. He was the chief designer of the V-2 rocket in Nazi Germany, as well as the Saturn V rocket in the U.S. for the Apollo space missions that took mankind to the moon.

Skylab Solar Shield by NASA on The Commons

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A sail like sunshade for possible use as a sunscreen for the Skylab Orbital Workshop (OWS) is shown being fabricated in the GE Building across the street from Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas. Three people help the steamstress feed the material through the sewing machine. The three-layered sunshade will be composed of a top layer of aluminized mylar, a middle layer of laminated nylon ripstop, and a bottom layer of thin nylon. Working on the sunshade are from left to right: Dale Gentry, Elizabeth Gauldin, Alyene Baker, and James H. Barnett Jr. Mrs. Baker, a GE employee, operates the double needle Singer sewing machine. Barnett is head of the Crew Equipment Development Section of JSC Crew Systems Division. Mrs. Gauldin is also with the Crew Systems Division. Gentry works for GE. The work shown here is part of the crash program underway to prepare a sunshield for Skylab to replace the original shield which was lost when Skylab 1 was launched on May 14, 1973. The improvised solar shield selected to be used will be carried to Earth orbit by the Skylab 2 crewman who will then deploy the reflective parasol to shade part of the OWS from the hot rays of the sun. Loss of the orginal sun shield has caused an overheating problem. in the Orbital Work Shop.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA

Image Number: S73-26047

Date: May 18, 1973

Nasa Space Suit, John F Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.

Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.

Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.

There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public.

Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.

NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.

On November 29, 1963, the facility was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. The Apollo 11 launch included crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, and attracted a record-breaking 650 million television viewers. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.

On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.

In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.

KSC's 2.9-mile (4.7 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.

On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.

Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).

Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible for all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Space Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.

All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Force Station started transferring from NASA to Air Force Space Command management.

In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight into the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.

In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch onboard the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.

From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.

Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.

The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:

Commercial Crew Program

Exploration Ground Systems Program

NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS) for continuation of human spaceflight.

On December 5, 2014, NASA launched the first uncrewed flight test of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), currently under development to facilitate human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Launch Services Program

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)

Research and Technology

Artemis program

Lunar Gateway

International Space Station Payloads

Camp KSC: educational camps for schoolchildren in spring and summer, with a focus on space, aviation and robotics.

The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.

Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery Archived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.

A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.

The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.

The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places dating back to the 1960s and was used to receive, process, and integrate payloads for the Gemini and Apollo programs, the Skylab program in the 1970s, and for initial segments of the International Space Station through the 1990s. The Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts would board the astronaut transfer van to launch complex 39 from the O&C building.

The three-story, 457,000-square-foot (42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two enormous processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and office space for support of non-hazardous Space Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO 14644-1 class 5 standards. Opened in 1994, it is the largest factory building in the KSC industrial area.

The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features a 71-by-38-foot (22 by 12 m) door where payloads that are processed in the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with two overhead cranes and a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).

The Hypergolic Maintenance and Checkout Area (HMCA) comprises three buildings that are isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that made up the Space Shuttle Orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and auxiliary power units were stored and serviced in the HMCF.

The Multi-Payload Processing Facility is a 19,647 square feet (1,825.3 m2) building used for Orion spacecraft and payload processing.

The Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) contains a 70-by-110-foot (21 by 34 m) service bay, with a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg), 85-foot (26 m) hook height. It also contains a 58-by-80-foot (18 by 24 m) payload airlock. Its temperature is maintained at 70 °F (21 °C).[55]

The Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility is located immediately south of the KSC visitor complex. Completed in 2019, it serves as the company's factory for the manufacture of New Glenn orbital rockets.

Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle until the Space Launch System, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).

Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.

Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was 363 feet (111 meters) tall and 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.

The complex includes: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a 130,000,000 cubic feet (3,700,000 m3) hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs. The VAB was the largest structure in the world by volume when completed in 1965.

a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads;

a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure, with three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each containing a fixed launch umbilical tower;

the Launch Control Center; and

a news media facility.

Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.

As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:

Exploration Park to multiple users (partnership with Space Florida)

Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida (who contracts use to private companies)

Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-3 to Boeing (for CST-100 Starliner)

Launch Complex 39A, Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 and land for SpaceX's Roberts Road facility (Hanger X) to SpaceX

O&C High Bay to Lockheed Martin (for Orion processing)

Land for FPL's Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center to Florida Power and Light (FPL)

Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF) to United Paradyne Corporation (UPC)

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.

It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.

In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.

Historic locations

NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:

Launch Complex 39: Pad A Historic District

Launch Complex 39: Pad B Historic District

Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) Area Historic District

Orbiter Processing Historic District

Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Disassembly and Refurbishment Complex Historic District

NASA KSC Railroad System Historic District

NASA-owned Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Industrial Area Historic District

There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building.[71] KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.

Further information: John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS

Other facilities

The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) is responsible for the preparation of solid rocket booster segments for transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The RPSF was built in 1984 to perform SRB operations that had previously been conducted in high bays 2 and 4 of the VAB at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. It was used until the Space Shuttle's retirement, and will be used in the future by the Space Launch System[75] (SLS) and OmegA rockets.

#TBT: First Crewed Skylab Mission Launches -- May 25, 1973 by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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This week in 1973, Charles Conrad Jr., Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin launched to America’s first space station. Upon arriving at Skylab, the crew installed the parasol sunshade -- seen here being stitched together by two seamstresses -- and released the solar array wing. Without the sunshade, the temperature inside Skylab’s orbital workshop became dangerously high, rendering the workshop uninhabitable and threatening the interior insulation and adhesive with deterioration. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center engineers and scientists worked to develop an emergency repair procedure that launched just 11 days after the incident.

The NASA History Program documents and preserves NASA’s remarkable history through a variety of products -- photos, press kits, press releases, mission transcripts and administrators' speeches. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the History Program’s web page.

For more fun throwbacks, check out Marshall's History Album by clicking here.

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

Washington D.C. - National Air and Space Museum - Apollo Command Module Skylab 4 by Daniel Mennerich

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APOLLO COMMAND MODULE, SKYLAB 4

This Apollo command module is identical to those used during the Apollo Program. It was used to ferry the crew of the last Skylab mission, astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue, to the Skylab Orbital Workshop and back to Earth again. The Skylab 4 crew lived in the Skylab for 84 days, from Nov. 16, 1973 to Feb. 8, 1974. The crew performed numerous experiments and demonstrated that humans can live and work in space for long periods of time.

Skylab was a manned space station launched into Earth orbit by the United States in May 1973. It was made from the third stage of a Saturn V launch vehicle. A crew of three astronauts occupied Skylab during each of three missions. The longest mission, which ended in February 1974, lasted almost three months.

Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the fourth Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew on board the space station.

The mission started November 16th, 1973 with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes. A total of 6051 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

sl1_v_c_o_TPMBK (MSFC photo, neg. no. 042393, SL2-7-635) by Mike Acs

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“SWS, in orbit.”

Gotta be the shortest ‘official’ NASA caption I’ve ever seen - three words - actually, two & an acronym. An obscure one at that, “SWS”, Saturn Workshop. HOWEVER, it’s punctuated…many others, with way more words, are NOT. You’re killin’ me smalls.

“This overhead view of the Skylab Space Station was taken from the Departing Skylab Command/Service Module during the Skylab 2's final fly-around inspection. The single solar panel is quite evident as well as the parasol solar shield, rigged to replace the missing micrometeoroid shield. Both the second solar panel and the micrometeoroid shield were torn away during a mishap in the original Skylab 1 liftoff and orbital insertion.”

Above taken from the caption for photo ID no. SL2-7-651. Although a totally different perspective, it’s applicable.

I think the photograph is incorrectly oriented, but it corresponds to the caption/information on the verso & is representative of one of the commonly seen orientations. Comparing the relative positions of clouds between this and the widely published SL2-7-633, along with the direction of flight, I think the ATM should be to the right/rightish.

Apollo MDA Control Panel No. 2 by Steve Jurvetson

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I am trying to figure out what this was used for. It looks like this is a voice comms test panel for the MDA — the Multiple Docking Adapter that was used in Skylab and the Apollo Soyuz docking module for ASTP.

There are some photos of an assembled test rack here which was used to verify the interface to the MDA from the CSM before the MDA was attached. Not sure if these panels relate to that though.

That community observed: "The second panel looks like a comm checkout panel. The red capped connectors on the lower right look like they are for CDR and LMP headsets. The use of modified CSMs for Skylab would mean hardline comm between the CM and MDA would have been through the channels that on previous Apollo missions were designated as CDR and LMP. The OP's panel was to checkout the CSM interfaces and it looks like this panel checks out the MDA comm interface to the CSM."

Skylab Plain Render by W.F Ikhasi

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I'm not hugely pleased with the protective thermal parasol, but it's the best I could do digitally.

The composite render is also not perfect, the lighting isn't right, but it displays the model well enough and I'm pleased with the overall build quality.

Skylab_2.4 by Joseph Chambers

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Revision 2.4

Body of the station stretched so that it is accurate to scale. An earlier miscalculation made it too short. Also changed the SAS wing to make it longer, changed the systems conduit on the right side, and changed the sunshade to use gold colored tiles.

Apollo MDA Control Panel No. 1 by Steve Jurvetson

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I am trying to figure out what this was used for. It looks like this is a power systems test panel for the MDA — the Multiple Docking Adapter that was used in Skylab and the Apollo Soyuz docking module for ASTP. Bus A and B would be the power rails from the fuel cells, and the Airflow Blower might be for the MDA cabin. Thoughts?

There are some photos of an assembled test rack here which was used to verify the interface to the MDA from the CSM before the MDA was attached. Not sure if these panels relate to that though. They think this panel is the "power supply for the MDA ground testing."

Stickers inside (below) are dated January 1974.

“Greetings from Skylab” Poster in the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington. by Leo Boudreau

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America's first experimental space station, Skylab, was designed for long durations. Its objectives were twofold: To prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods, and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based observations. Skylab was occupied by astronauts three times over 1973 and 1974, each time by a crew of three astronauts. The Skylab missions obtained vast amounts of scientific data and they demonstrated that people could live and work productively in space for months at a time.

Skylab's orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

[Sources: NASA, Wikipedia]

fut//spasta_v_bw_o_n (unnumbered, 1971 GAC photo) by Mike Acs

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“Various restraints, suction shoes would enable men to move around and perform their duties in a space station under zero gravity conditions. Common earth-bound chores become a problem when everything literally floats. Grumman Corp. engineers have proposed devices to NASA.”

Based on the year & overall appearance of the artist’s concepts, I can’t help but think this primarily pertained to the Skylab Orbital Workshop (OWS). The following, per the image itself:

“MOBILITY AND RESTRAINT DEVICE CONCEPTS FOR FUTURE MANNED SPACE SYSTEMS

- INFLATABLE MID-TORSO RESTRAINT

- LEG RAIL RESTRAINT

- SUCTION SHOES

- LINEAR INDUCTION MOBILE HANDHOLD

- PORTABLE HANDRAIL

- NET-TYPE SLEEP RESTRAINT”

Some fairly novel concepts in there, the linear induction being particularly head-scratching to me, for multiple reasons. Based on a photograph of Owen Garriott at the ATM console, I initially believed the “LEG RAIL RESTRAINT” to have been used for Skylab; however, after a closer look, it was not, only his feet were secured. Along those lines, again WRT Skylab, instead of suction shoes, triangularly cleated shoes were used, which could be inserted into the cavities of the triangular-grid floors of the OWS. With a twist of his foot, a crewman could position himself wherever he chose. Finally, regarding zero-g sleep, per “SP-400: Skylab, Our First Space Station”:

“The bedroom was a small compartment divided into three separate modules, each about the size of a small walk-in closet. Each module was equipped with a bed, a locker, and a doorlike privacy curtain, and each had an adjustable vent through which air circulated.

The bed was a multilayered sleeping bag hung on a frame against the compartment wall. Ready for sleep, the astronaut zipped open his bed, selected the number of blankets he needed for warmth, eased himself between them, and then attached a body strap and closed the zipper. This enclosed him in the pillowed sleeping bag and kept him from floating around as he slept.

Despite sleeping in what would appear to be an upright position against the wall, and despite the absence of gravity, crewmen slept well. Some of the crewmen added their own variation to the sleeping position. Some slept with their heads nearer the floor, while others stretched their beds out like a hammock.”

Interesting that the quaint assumption of sleeping “horizontally”, in 1970/71, was still a consideration…in a weightless environment…with one’s eyes closed. I would’ve expected that limited/finite space considerations would’ve ruled that out immediately anyhow. Speaking of quaint, note the reel-to-reel data tape.

Last, but NOT least…by the hand of - the Man - Craig Kavafes.

Launch Vehicle, John F. Kennedy Space Centre, Merritt Island, Florida, USA. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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