Small Steps, Giant Leaps: An Alternate History of the Space Age

Nope, it's not an acronym :)
Starlab as the successor to Skylab, naturally. ETS already did Spacelab so...

Well to be clear the OTL proposed follow-on "STARlab" WAS an acronym and let's face it "Space Technology And Research" lab has a ring to it :)

Randy
 
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Hey everyone, in anticipation of the upcoming Chapter 2, I thought I'd show off a diagram of one of the overlooked differences between the Orbital Workshops of OTL and SSGL! Hopefully we can finish the final portions of Chapter 1 as a nice Christmas (if you celebrate it!) present to y'all.
 
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Hey everyone, in anticipation of the upcoming Chapter 2, I thought I'd show off a diagram of one of the overlooked differences between the Orbital Workshops of OTL and SSGL! Hopefully we can finish the final portions of Chapter 1 as a nice Christmas (if you celebrate it!) present to y'all.
Has Skylab been deorbited / reentered yet or is it still in orbit in 1976?
 
I'd missed that bit, but yeah, that's a rather substantial departure from the normal Apollo capsule layout - assuming that even is an Apollo derivative, instead of a fresh-built capsule mated to an Apollo service module.
 
I'd missed that bit, but yeah, that's a rather substantial departure from the normal Apollo capsule layout - assuming that even is an Apollo derivative, instead of a fresh-built capsule mated to an Apollo service module.
My guess is that it's a lifeboat variant of Apollo that can hold 5 astronauts like the Skylab Rescue capsule IOTL, except here it's docked for long periods and changed out periodically.
 
The awkward bit there is if Shuttle can still carry it's OTL passenger load of 7 astronauts - because a 5-seat Apollo Lifeboat would limit them to only using 5 seats on each Shuttle flight (given the limited number of docking ports prevents deploying a second Apollo Lifeboat).
 
The awkward bit there is if Shuttle can still carry it's OTL passenger load of 7 astronauts - because a 5-seat Apollo Lifeboat would limit them to only using 5 seats on each Shuttle flight (given the limited number of docking ports prevents deploying a second Apollo Lifeboat).
Not if it's targeted to station crew rotation, not assured Shuttle return capability. You're probably not leaving 7 people on-station, Skylab would have some difficulty usefully supporting that, so 5 is probably fine. This also has the benefit of meaning you have room in the Shuttle crew (which technically flew with as many as 8 and had provisions for 9) for not only the Commander and Pilot to simply fly up, oversee the exchange, and come home, but also a few short-stay astronauts up only for the duration of Shuttle's visit to station.
 
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The awkward bit there is if Shuttle can still carry it's OTL passenger load of 7 astronauts - because a 5-seat Apollo Lifeboat would limit them to only using 5 seats on each Shuttle flight (given the limited number of docking ports prevents deploying a second Apollo Lifeboat).
Well I imagine not all the 7-person crew of a shuttle is there for a full expedition on the station. The commander and pilot definitely don't stay, so that's 5 seats free for a rotation crew, or 4 and a short stay if someone is staying for a double rotation (if that's a thing ITTL).
 
Yeah, our planning for Starlab has been Shuttle-based crew rotations with the Commander and Pilot staying with the Shuttle, rotating out five-person crews and resupplying the station. As previously mentioned in the Space Exploration Chat thread, the Apollo CSM is easily capable of fitting in the payload bay of the Shuttle, so that's how it's going to get up there with no more Saturn IBs.
 
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Apollo with integrated APAS???
This is actually a minor rendering mistake that Talverd made, and will be fixed when the renders show up in the actual posts. Apollo has a probe port as normal, with Starlab's nadir port remaining an Apollo drogue port like Skylab's and the other two converted to APAS.
 
This is actually a minor rendering mistake that Talverd made, and will be fixed when the renders show up in the actual posts. Apollo has a probe port as normal, with Starlab's nadir port remaining an Apollo drogue port like Skylab's and the other two converted to APAS.

Just an FYI but its also rendered with a full SM stack instead of the "orbital only" short SM planned for the 'ferry/life-boat' version :) Literally no need or requirement for the full "lunar" SM stack in Earth orbit operations.

Randy
 
Just an FYI but its also rendered with a full SM stack instead of the "orbital only" short SM planned for the 'ferry/life-boat' version :) Literally no need or requirement for the full "lunar" SM stack in Earth orbit operations.

Randy
Oh that's not a mistake- the Apollo ACRVs are using essentially unmodified leftover hardware to save costs, and an orbital only SM as seen in ETS would have been costly to develop. Remember, it's only a temporary solution until a (design undisclosed to our readers, I can't spoil everything!) more advanced ACRV is developed clean-sheet.
 
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