May 14, Wednesday 9 a.m. - Skylab: A Home Above Our Home Planet -- A profile of America's First Space Station Produced by the Kennedy Space Center - HQ (Public and Media Channels)
MATTBLAK - 13/5/2008 10:42 AMI too think a mistake was made not launching the second Skylab. It was also a fact that despite there being several Block 2 Command & Service Modules left at the time (about 4), there were also only two Saturn 1B boosters left.
Proponent - 13/5/2008 7:22 AMQuoteMATTBLAK - 13/5/2008 10:42 AMI too think a mistake was made not launching the second Skylab. It was also a fact that despite there being several Block 2 Command & Service Modules left at the time (about 4), there were also only two Saturn 1B boosters left.It seems to me that there would have been 3 Saturn IBs available at the time: 12 were built, 5 were used in Apollo and 3 in the first set of Skylab missions. That's a total of 4 remaining, which becomes 3 if you reserve one for ASTP.
Proponent - 13/5/2008 6:22 AMIt seems to me that there would have been 3 Saturn IBs available at the time: 12 were built, 5 were used in Apollo and 3 in the first set of Skylab missions. That's a total of 4 remaining, which becomes 3 if you reserve one for ASTP.
Is anybody able to play devil's advocate and explain why the surplus Apollo/Skylab hardware never flew? I know it was about 'funding' but you don't have to be a genius to see that it's crazy to throw away perfectly good equipment whilst having the stated intention of building a space station a few years later. They must have expected STS to be really cheap if they actually believed it would save money to wait for it to come on line.
My humble understanding of things - Skylab/ ASTP Saturn IB were launched from LC-39B+ Milkstool. BUT as soon as ASTP concluded - July 1975- NASA started modifying LC-39s for the Shuttle. Say goodbye to Saturn V (LC-39A) and Saturn IB/ CSM (LC-39B)