Skylab

Skylab 12/4/00 Skylab was America\'s first space station. It was built and designed by McDonnell Douglas aeronautics. It cost approximately 2.6 billion dollars to finance the entire project (Cromie, 138). Skylab proved that humans could survive, long term, in space. The Skylab program was also used to survey the Earth for natural resources. The program was also monitored the Sun. It also tested human\'s endurance in weightlessness. The 100-ton Skylab was almost the size of a small house. The interior of the station measured 11334 feet in volume (Yenne,170). The dimensions of the station were 21.6feet at its widest point, and 48.1feet long. The Skylab consisted of four units. Three of these units sustained life. The orbital workshop (OWS) contained crew quarters and work areas. The OWS was divided into two stories. The upper story had food storage and space suits. The lower story contained crew quarters and places for experiments. The airlock module (AM) contained the station\'s control and monitoring center. The AM also allowed access to the outside of the station. The Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) a solar observatory. The multiple docking adapter (MDA) contained docking ports for the Apollo spacecraft. When docked, the skylab, crew, station, space, orbit, made, lepacek, experiments, solar, leak, launch, during, days, program, earth, shield, set, one, mission, minutes, included, fuel, contained, began, back, apollo, two, three, sun, record, recommended, problem, planet, over