alternatehistory.com

March 27, 1977

Music: The Byrds, Mr Tambourine man & Turn

America had circled Earth for two days, and now closed from its destination. Alan Bean had their target in visual – even kilometres away, Skylab was easy to sight, catching the sun like a giant heliograph. To Bean regrets, they would not dock nor enter the derelict station – it had been in space for too long . Their work would be limited to picking up some pieces of the old station; they would be analysed on Earth, and told NASA how hardware grew in age in space harsh environment. The legendary Maxime Faget had had an interesting idea. Back in spring 1971, he had suggested to test the Shuttle Manipulator using a modified Apollo CSM; amid the various targets envisaged was Skylab. After Shuttle cancellation the manipulator had been put on hold, then included within the future space station. The need for a test still existed, and Helios now represented the way forward.

So the manipulator demonstration had been included in Helios second flight and visit to Skylab. The manipulator would be used to pick some pieces from the workshop.

As he watched the Orbital Workshop and its lone solar array, Bean remembered how many projects had been drawn around the two Skylab since 1971 and Shuttle cancellation.

NASA had tried to use as much Skylab as possible in its future space station. Many projects included the two workshops – Skylab A in orbit, and the backup Skylab B on the ground. Basic idea was what can we dock to Skylab which could turn it into a larger or more useful station ?

Consideration had been given to a very large collection of varied hardware such as Soyuz, Salyut, surplus Apollos, European modules, spent S-II or S-IVB stages, and the backup Skylab. Soon, an agreement was found with the soviet soon thereafter, for a second joint flight late 1977, using their spare Apollo-Soyuz. This would join with Helios third flight, bumping the Skylab Revival Mission to the year after. Rendezvous with Skylab would have to happen on Helios third flight, or burst. The reason was that the 1978 flights were already bookmarked for others missions. The more the Skylab mission was postponed, the harder the docking would be, since Skylab would plundge deeper and deeper into the atmosphere; it may start tumbling, making a docking impossible. In the end NASA managers decided that docking so early in the flight program, particularly with the old workshop, was out of question so the Skylab Revival Mission was downgraded to a close flyby with the astronauts picking up some elements of the derelict workshop using the Canadarm.

Before the big Titan screamed out of Launch Complex forty-one, Alan Bean asked Marshall engineers what Skylab interior would look like after so much years.

“Alan, the long exposure to space has taken its toll. Be ready to find brittled hatch seals, low gas pressure and contamination all over - on windows, mirrors, and filters- including fungal spores on the walls and in the air. In addition, cosmic radiation and extreme temperature cycling probably degraded electronics and electrical parts. The station's attitude control system is close from dead. On the plus side, refrigeration, oxygen/nitrogen distribution, carbon dioxide control waste management, medical monitoring, trash disposal and ventilation should work. By the way microbiologists are excited at the prospect of studying microbes that have been reproducing in the trash for hundreds of generations in a spacecraft. Still tempted ?”

Looking at Skylab, Bean thought about Marshall, and Von Braun, who was dying of cancer. “Looks like the Apollo era is over”

The canadarm worked perfectly. Little bits of Skylab were tucked into a small bay on the side of America reentry module.

Nothing compares to the lost, immense payload bay of the shuttle, however. Bean thought. We could have brought a whole solar array back to Earth, or even the Apollo Telescope Mount. We could have reuse it, putting new intruments into the frame.