Skylab Rescue

The Skylab Rescue Mission (also SL-R)[1]:iii was a backup

Skylab Rescue
rescue flight as part of a contingency plan for the Skylab
space station.[2][3] It used a modified Apollo Command
Module that could be launched with a crew of two and
return a crew of five.[1]:1-1[4]

Contents
History
AS 208
AS 209
Skylab Rescue Command Module
Crew Diagram
See also
Mission type Crew rescue
References
Operator NASA
External links
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Apollo CSM-119
History Manufacturer North American Aviation

Plans for outfitting an Apollo Command/Service Module Crew

(CSM) as a space rescue vehicle date back to November Crew size 2 at launch
1965 when North American Rockwell technicians conceived 5 at landing
the possibility of a rescue mission for astronauts trapped in
Members Vance D. Brand
lunar orbit.[5][6] After a rescue mission in Earth orbit was
Don L. Lind
depicted in the 1969 film Marooned, the company revived
the concept in November 1970.[2] Marshall Space Flight Start of mission
Center issued a formal Mission Requirements document on Launch date On standby
17 May 1972, with subsequent revisions.[1]:iii The standard August 1973 - February
Skylab Command Module accommodated a crew of three 1974
with storage lockers on the aft bulkhead for resupply of (Unlaunched)
experiment film and other equipment, as well as the return
Rocket Saturn IB AS-208/209
of exposed film, data tapes and experiment samples. To
convert the standard CSM to a rescue vehicle, the storage Launch site Kennedy LC-39B
lockers were removed and replaced with two crew couches Docking with Skylab
to seat a total of five crewmen.[4]
Docking port Forward

AS 208
After Skylab 3 was launched, the crew's CSM developed a
problem with two of its reaction control system thruster
quads. They were leaking fuel, one failing before the CSM
docked with the station and another on August 2, six days
later. The malfunctions only left two available quads, and
while the spacecraft could operate with just one, the leaks
posed a possible risk to other systems.[7]:208

NASA first considered bringing the crew home

immediately.[3] However, because the astronauts were safe
on the station with ample supplies and because plans for a
rescue flight existed,[7]:209 the mission continued while the
Saturn IB rocket AS 208 with CSM 119[4] was assembled in
the Vehicle Assembly Building at Launch Complex 39 for
possible use. It was at one point rolled out to LC-39B.

NASA announced on August 4, 1973 that Skylab 3 and

Skylab rescue crew portrait (Left to right;
Skylab 4 backup crewmen Vance Brand and Don Lind
Vance Brand and Don Lind)
would fly any rescue mission; they had immediately begun
training for the flight once the second quad had failed on
August 2. After engineers found that the leaks would not disable the spacecraft, the two men used
simulators to test reentry using two quads. If ground personnel worked 24 hours a day and skipped some
tests, the mission could launch on September 10,[3][8]:299 and would last no more than five
days.[1]:2–6[7]:208–209 The astronauts would attempt to prepare Skylab for further use but returning
experimental data and diagnosing the cause of the problem were more important,[1]:2-1 with Lind
choosing what would be brought back.[7]:211[9] Although Skylab had two docking ports the primary one
would be used if possible, jettisoning the Skylab crew's CSM if necessary.[1]:2-2,3,8

Within hours of the failure of the second quad, however, NASA had decided to cancel the rescue mission.
Beyond the space agency's conclusion that the failed quads would not disable the Skylab 3 CSM, Brand
and Lind had already shown during their training as backup Skylab crewmen that a reentry with failed
quads was safe. They continued to train for a rescue mission, as well as for their backup
roles,[7]:210–211[9] but the Skylab 3 crew was able to complete its full 59-day mission on the station and
safely return to Earth using the two functional RCS thruster quads.[10]:103–4

AS 209
After the Skylab 4 launch, another rescue flight was assembled as a backup contingency. The Saturn IB
rocket AS 209 was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Launch Complex 39 for possible use.
It also used the CSM 119 Command Module that was to be launched with Brand and Lind.

There were also plans for a short 20-day Skylab 5 flight that would use this backup CSM. The crew,
likely consisting of Brand, Lind, and Skylab backup Science Pilot William B. Lenoir, would have
performed some scientific research and closed out the station until the Space Shuttle was operational.
However, the extension of Skylab 4 from fifty-six to eighty-four days obviated the need for the additional
mission.

AS 209 and CSM 119 were later used as a backup to the ASTP mission. Both are now on display at the
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. CSM 119 is located in the Apollo/Saturn V Center. The Saturn
IB booster for AS 209 is currently located in the Visitor Complex's Rocket Garden. It is displayed
horizontally, mated to an Apollo FVV (Facilities Verification Vehicle) which was formerly displayed at
the VAB's Visitor Complex c. October 1968.
 In 2007, after sitting untouched for over 30 years, NASA engineers
used the command module for studies on the spacecraft's life support
adapter assembly[11] – the projecting aerodynamic fairing that
allows oxygen, water, and electricity to flow from the Service
Module to the Command Module. This was in support of the design
and construction of a similar system on the new Orion spacecraft,
which resembles the Skylab Rescue configuration.

The Skylab Rescue CSM is

removed from its Saturn IB
Launch vehicle in the Vehicle
Assembly Building, following the
successful recovery of Skylab 4.

Crew

Position Astronaut
Vance D. Brand
Commander
First spaceflight
Don L. Lind
Command Module Pilot
First spaceflight

Brand flew in 1975 as the Command Module Pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project before commanding
three Space Shuttle missions (STS-5 in 1982, STS-41-B in 1984 and STS-35 in 1990). Lind would wait
another decade before he flew as a Mission Specialist on STS-51-B in 1985.

CSM 119 on display at the SA 209 on display at the Kennedy

Apollo/Saturn V Center Space Center Visitor Complex

See also
 STS-3xx

References
1. " Mission Requirements, Skylab Rescue Mission, SL-R (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/c
asi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740004370_1974004370.pdf)" NASA, 24 August 1973.
2. Wade, Mark. "Skylab Rescue (http://www.astronautix.com/flights/skyescue.htm) Archived (h
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050906235101/http://astronautix.com/flights/skyescue.htm)
2005-09-06 at the Wayback Machine". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
3. "Skylab's New Crisis: A Rescue Mission? (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,917
1,907680-1,00.html)" TIME, August 13, 1973. Retrieved April 10, 2009.
4. Wade, Mark. "Apollo Rescue CSM (http://www.astronautix.com/craft/apouecsm.htm)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090317010102/http://astronautix.com/craft/apouec
sm.htm) 2009-03-17 at the Wayback Machine". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved April
10, 2009.
5. "4-Man Apollo Rescue Mission (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720
067283_1972067283.pdf)" Nasa Technical Reports Server. Retrieved April 18, 2011
6. Portree, David S.F. (October 6, 2012). "Beyond Apollo: Apollo Lunar Orbit Rescue (1965)"
(https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/apollo-lunar-orbit-rescue-1965/). Retrieved
January 12, 2013.
7. Shayler, David J. (2001). Skylab: America's Space Station (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=X4WaYqQDVKwC&pg=PA208). Berlin: Springer. ISBN 1-85233-407-X.
8. Benson, Charles Dunlap and William David Compton. Living and Working in Space: A
History of Skylab (https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/contents.htm). NASA publication SP-
4208.
9. Don L. Lind oral history transcript (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/LindDL/lind
dl.pdf), NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, May 27, 2005.
10. Belew, Leland. F. (editor) Skylab, Our First Space Station (https://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/c
ontents.htm) NASA publication SP-400.
11. " Using History to Design the Future (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orio
n/umbilical_inspection.html)" NASA, retrieved March 9, 2011

External links
Skylab Rescue Space Vehicle Countdown (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nas
a.gov/19750016724_1975016724.pdf)
Skylab Rescue Space Vehicle flight readiness test (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.n
trs.nasa.gov/19730024044_1973024044.pdf)
Skylab Rescue Space Vehicle OAT no. 1 plugs in test (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/ca
si.ntrs.nasa.gov/19730024043_1973024043.pdf)
Launch vehicle test and checkout plan – Volume 2: Saturn 1B launch vehicle Skylab R
(rescue) and AS-208 flow plan and listings (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nas
a.gov/19740002687_1974002687.pdf)
Skylab hardware evaluation CSM rescue (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.
gov/19770069193_1977069193.pdf)
Structural analysis Skylab spacecraft. Addendum A: Rescue vehicle (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/a
rchive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19760073027_1976073027.pdf)

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