Skylab B was a proposed second US

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station ...

similar to

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 ...

that was planned to be launched by

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, succeedin ...

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 a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...

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

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American 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 merger with Boeing in 1997, it ...

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 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, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...

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 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 a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...

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 and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

and later by the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially 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. Its official program n ...

. The vision of a

international space station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

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 of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

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 (russian: Салют, , 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 ...

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 ...

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 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 Skylab 3 (also SL-3 and SLM-2) was the second crewed mission to the first American space station, Skylab. The mission began on July 28, 1973, with the launch of NASA astronauts Alan Bean, Owen Garriott, and Jack Lousma in the Apollo command ...

and

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

, 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 in the event of astronauts being stranded aboard the American Skylab space stati ...

mission (minus the science pilot):

Existing hardware

Apollo CSM

The Apollo Command Module CSM-119 was originally used for

. File:CSM-119 Skylab Rescue.jpg, CSM-119 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 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...

Saturn IB

Saturn IB SA-209 was originally used for

. Saturn IB SA-211 was unused. File:Saturn IB at KSC.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 to ...

File:Rocket,ArdmoreWelcomeCenter.jpg, Saturn IB (SA-211) at the

Ardmore Welcome Center Ardmore comes from the ga, Ard Mór or the gd, Àird Mhòr meaning "great height" and may refer to: Places Canada *Ardmore, Alberta *Ardmore, a neighbourhood in North Saanich, British Columbia *Ardmore Beach, a community in Tiny, Ontario Repub ...

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 (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late ...

, 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 city, municipality of Puerto Rico and suburb of San Juan located in the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas and Comerío; south of Toa Baja and Cataño; west of Guaynabo; and east of Toa Alta and Naranjito. ...

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

File:IMG 9509 edited-1.JPG (7392775628) (2).jpg, S-II-14 on display at

File:SaturnVcenterStage3.JPG, S-IVB-514 on display at

Saturn V SA-515 was originally designated for

Apollo 20 Several planned missions of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled for a variety of reasons, including changes in technical direction, the Apollo 1 fire, hardware delays, and budget limitations. After the la ...

, 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 manufacturing complex owned by NASA in New Orleans East, a district within New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. Organizationally it is part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and is curren ...

through June 2016. This was then moved to the Infinity Sciene 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 of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the N ...

. 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:Space Centre, Houston, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (151).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 Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is an aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Its exhibits include the Hughes H-4 Hercules (''Spruce Goose'') and more than fifty military and civilian aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and spacec ...

. File:Skylab Airdock Module (6586684165) (5).jpg, Skylab Airdock Module in the

. The EVA Hatch is actually based on a Gemini hatch.

Training mockups

A full-size

mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

once used for astronaut training is located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center visitor's center in

Houston, Texas 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 i ...

. Another full-size training mockup is at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

. Originally displayed indoors, it was subsequently stored outdoors for several years to make room for other exhibits. To mark the 40th anniversary of the Skylab program, the Orbital Workshop portion of the trainer was restored and moved into the Davidson Center in 2013. File:Neutral Buoyancy Space Simulator.jpg, Original trainer at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, before display at the US Space & Rocket Center

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 collection of the Smithsonian Institution