Skylab B was a proposed second US

space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...

similar to

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

that was planned to be launched by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

for different purposes, mostly involving the

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked wit ...

, but was canceled due to lack of funding. Two Skylab modules were built in 1970 by

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...

for the Skylab program, originally the

Apollo Applications Program The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was created as early as 1966 by NASA headquarters to develop science-based human spaceflight missions using hardware developed for the Apollo program. AAP was the ultimate development of a number of official ...

. The first was launched in 1973 and the other put in storage, while NASA considered how to use the remaining assets from Apollo. One considered option was to use

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

SA-515 to launch the backup Skylab station into orbit sometime between January 1975 and April 1976. That way, it could expand the

Apollo–Soyuz Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international Space exploration, space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo comm ...

mission by 56–90 days. Further proposals were made for an International Skylab, launched using Saturn V SA-514. This station would have been serviced by Apollo,

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

and later by the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

. The vision of an

international space station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

would not be realized until two decades later.

Potential uses

Some uses considered for the second Skylab module included putting it into a rotation mode where it could generate artificial gravity and a plan to celebrate the 1976

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memo ...

with the launch of two Soviet Soyuz missions to the back-up Skylab. In preparation for the

proposed a massive station by combining a

Salyut The ''Salyut'' programme (, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissa ...

station with Skylab B. This would be achieved by launching an Apollo with a multiple docking adapter with 4 docking ports to be able to dock both stations and servicing vehicles (Soyuz and Apollo). The joint US-USSR mission would have possibly been called International Skylab. Modifications would have had to have been made to the Skylab B to support a mixed oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere to match the Salyut's atmosphere, or an airlock would have been needed to be installed to allow passage between the mixed atmosphere of the Soviet segment to the pure oxygen environment of the American segment. For future missions, the station, which would have then been called the Advanced Skylab, could have been expanded by the

, which was due to enter service in 1979. At the time (1973) the idea was discussed, NASA still had two

launchers (SA-514 and SA-515), three

Saturn IB The Saturn IB (also known as the uprated Saturn I) was an American launch vehicle commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Apollo program. It uprated the Saturn I by replacing the S-IV second stage (, 43,3 ...

boosters (SA-209, SA-210, SA-211), the back-up Skylab space station (Skylab B), three Apollo CSMs (CSM-117, CSM-118 and CSM-119) and two

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed s ...

s in storage (LM-13, LM-14). However, after the first Skylab was launched in May 1973, the plan for the Skylab B was canceled and the Apollo/Soyuz spacecraft had to use the Docking Module launched on the Apollo-Saturn IB for performing experiments in space. After Project Apollo ended and as NASA was moving to developing the Space Shuttle, the remaining Apollo hardware was donated to museums in 1976.

Possible crew

It was expected at the time by those involved that the initial crew would be the crew which served as backup for Skylab 3 and

Skylab 4 Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final human spaceflight, crew aboard the first American space station. The mission began on November 16, 1973, with the launch of Gerald P. Carr, Edwar ...

, and was kept in reserve for the

Skylab Rescue The Skylab Rescue Mission (also SL-R)Mission Requirements, Skylab Rescue Mission, SL-R NASA, 24 August 1973. was an unflown rescue mission, planned as a contingency plan, contingency in the event of astronauts being stranded aboard the American S ...

mission (minus the science pilot):

Existing hardware

Apollo CSM

The Apollo Command Module CSM-119 was originally used for

. It is on display at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

. File:CSM-119 - Kennedy Space Center.jpg, alt= File:CSM-119 Skylab Rescue.jpg, alt= File:CSM-119 - Kennedy Space Center - Cape Canaveral, Florida - DSC02832.jpg, alt= File:Apollo Command Module CSM-119 (7392834454) (2).jpg, alt=

Saturn IB

Saturn IB SA-209 was originally used for

. File:Cape Kennedy Space Center.jpg, Saturn IB (SA-209) at the

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus tou ...

. File:Saturn IB at KSC.jpg, Saturn IB (SA-209) side view. File:John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida (440278) (9474762527).jpg, Saturn IB (SA-209) front view.

Saturn V

The Saturn V SA-514 was originally designated for canceled Apollo 19. It was proposed for launching an International Skylab. This station would have been serviced by Apollo,

and later by the

. * First stage (S-IC-14) on display at

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

, second and third stages (S-II-14, S-IVB-514) on display at

. * The S-II interstage is located at Parque de las Ciencias in

Bayamón, Puerto Rico Bayamón (, ) is a Bayamón barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico. Located on the northeastern coastal plain, it is bounded by Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Guaynabo to the east, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, Toa A ...

(visible on satellite images at ). File:JSC Houston8.jpg, S-IC-14 on display at

File:Space Centre, Houston, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (170).JPG, S-IC-14 on display at

File:Saturn V - Kennedy Space Center 04.jpg, S-II-14 on display at

File:Kennedy Space Center 57.JPG, S-II-14 on display at

File:Saturn V - Kennedy Space Center 06.jpg, S-IVB-514 on display at

File:Saturn V - Kennedy Space Center 07.jpg, S-IVB-514 on display at

Saturn V SA-515 was originally designated for

Apollo 20 Several planned missions of the Apollo program, Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled, for reasons which included changes in technical direction, Apollo 1, the Apollo 1 fire, the Apollo 13 incident, hardware dela ...

, and later to launch the backup Skylab station into orbit sometime between January 1975 and April 1976. That way, it could expand the

mission by 56–90 days. *The first stage (S-IC-15) was on display at

Michoud Assembly Facility The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is an industrial complex for the manufacture and assembly line, structural assembly of aerospace vehicles and components. It is owned by NASA and located in Eastern New Orleans, New Orleans East, a section of N ...

through June 2016. This was then moved to the Infinity Science Center in Pearlington MS. *The second stage (S-II-15) is on display at

. *The third stage (S-IVB-515) is the Skylab B Orbital Workshop on display at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

. On display in the museum's Space Hall since 1976, the orbital workshop has been slightly modified to permit viewers to walk through the living quarters. File:SaturnVMichoudOct2009.JPG, S-IC-15 on display at

File:Saturn V Rocket, 2nd Stage – Johnson Space Center. 20-3-2017 (25828063697).jpg, S-II-15 on display at

File:Skylab B Smithsonian.jpg, Skylab B Orbital Workshop (S-IVB-515) at the

File:Skylab Latrine.jpg, The waste management facilities in Skylab B (S-IVB-515) at the

. File:Skylab mockup Smithsonian NASM.jpg, A mannequin astronaut models dining aboard the Skylab B (S-IVB-515) at the NASM.

Airlock Module

An Airlock Module is on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. The EVA Hatch is actually a repurposed Gemini hatch, used as a way to reduce development costs by reusing old hardware. File:Skylab Airdock Module (6586684165) (5).jpg, alt= File:Skylab Airlock Module - Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum - McMinnville, Oregon - DSC00819.jpg, alt= File:Skylab Airlock Module - Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum - McMinnville, Oregon - DSC00821.jpg, alt= File:Skylab Airlock Module - Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum - McMinnville, Oregon - DSC00823.jpg, alt=

Multiple Docking Adapter

Multiple Docking Adapter is on display at the

. File:Florida by Piotrus 202.JPG, Multiple Docking Adapter at

References

* Frieling, Thomas J, ''Quest'', "Skylab B: Unflown Missions, Lost Opportunities", 1996, Volume 5, Issue 4, page 12.

External links

Skylab B (Astronautix)Skylab B experiment program rationale (1970)
{{NASA space program Cancelled space stations Cancelled American spacecraft Skylab program Individual spacecraft in the Smithsonian Institution