The Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test, or SMEAT, was a 56-day simulation of an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Skylab
Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations in ...
space mission from 26 July-19 September 1972 at
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's
Manned Spacecraft Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...
in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. The astronauts in the test were
Bob Crippen,
Karol Bobko
Karol Joseph "Bo" Bobko (born December 23, 1937), (Col, USAF, Ret.), is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and a former USAF and NASA astronaut. Bobko was the first graduate of the US Air Force Academy t ...
, and
William Thornton
William Thornton (May 20, 1759 – March 28, 1828) was a British-American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first Superintendent of the Uni ...
, who simulated space experiments, housekeeping and leisure activities in a
hypobaric chamber
A hypobaric chamber, or altitude chamber, is a chamber used during aerospace or high terrestrial altitude research or training to simulate the effects of high altitude on the human body, especially hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypobaria (low ambient ...
. SMEAT provided a baseline for the in-orbit portion of biomedical experiments on Skylab.
One of the benefits of SMEAT was discovering flaws in the urine handling system of Skylab, which allowed the problem to be fixed. The Skylab toilet went on to be widely praised by astronauts after the orbital missions.
MSC invited the press in to film the crew entering the chamber. They could not talk to the press as they entered because they were wearing oxygen masks, but they did give a signed photo to one of the press that came out for the event. There were also a number of NASA officials there.
SMEAT's main objective was to evaluate equipment and procedures proposed for use during the Skylab missions. NASA also wanted to obtain a baseline of physiological data for crewmembers confined in a test chamber to compare to the orbiting crews in Skylab living in zero-G. The crew was subjected to a pressure of
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
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Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
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and 70% oxygen level. Closed-circuit TV provided views of activities inside the chamber.
Roles:
[ ]
* Commander - Crippen
* Science Pilot - Thornton
* Pilot - Bobko
See also
*
Timeline of longest spaceflights
Timeline of longest spaceflights is a chronology of the longest spaceflights. Many of the first flights set records measured in hours and days, the space station missions of the 1970s and 1980s pushed this to weeks and months, and by the 1990s the ...
*
Organisms at high altitude
Organisms can live at high altitude, either on land, in water, or while flying. Decreased oxygen availability and decreased temperature make life at such altitudes challenging, though many species have been successfully adapted via considerable ...
*
List of Mars analogs
This is list of Mars analogs, which simulate aspects of the conditions human beings could experience during a future mission to Mars, or different aspects of Mars such as its materials or conditions. This is often used for testing aspects of space ...
*
Control (science) (Skylab provided baseline data for in-orbit experiments)
References
External links
Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test (SMEAT) slides
Skylab program
Human analog missions
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