Skylab 2
Skylab 2 (also SL-2 and SLM-1) was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973, and carried NASA astronauts Pete Conrad, Joseph P. Kerwin, Paul J. Weitz to the station. The name Skylab 2 also refers to the vehicle used for that mission. The Skylab 2 mission established a twenty-eight-day record for human spaceflight duration. Furthermore, its crew was the first space station occupants ever to return safely to Earth – the only previous space station occupants, the crew of the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission that had crewed the Salyut 1 station for twenty-four days, died upon reentry due to unexpected cabin depressurization.
Skylab, seen from the departing Skylab 2 spacecraft | |
| Operator | NASA |
|---|---|
| COSPAR ID | 1973-032A |
| SATCAT no. | 6655 |
| Mission duration | 28 days, 49 minutes, 49 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 18,500,000 kilometers (10,000,000 nautical miles) |
| Orbits completed | 404 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Apollo CSM-116 |
| Manufacturer | North American Rockwell |
| Launch mass | 19,979 kilograms (44,046 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | May 25, 1973 |
| Rocket | Saturn IB SA-206 |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | USS Ticonderoga |
| Landing date | June 22, 1973, 13:49:48 UTC |
| Landing site | 24°45′N 127°2′W |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 428 kilometers (231 nautical miles) |
| Apogee altitude | 438 kilometers (237 nautical miles) |
| Inclination | 50.0 degrees |
| Period | 93.2 minutes |
| Epoch | June 4, 1973 |
| Docking with Skylab | |
| Docking port | Forward |
| Docking date | May 26, 1973, 09:56 UTC |
| Undocking date | May 26, 1973, 10:45 UTC |
| Time docked | 49 minutes |
| Docking with Skylab | |
| Docking port | Forward |
| Docking date | May 26, 1973, 15:50 UTC |
| Undocking date | June 22, 1973, 08:58 UTC |
| Time docked | 26 days, 11 hours, 2 minutes |
Due to a NASA management error, crewed Skylab mission patches were designed in conflict with the official mission numbering scheme. L–R: Kerwin, Conrad, and Weitz Skylab program | |
The crewed Skylab missions were officially designated Skylab 2, 3, and 4. Miscommunication about the numbering resulted in the mission emblems reading "Skylab I", "Skylab II", and "Skylab 3" respectively.