Transcript: May Week 2

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the second week of May. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
On the 12th, the moon, Regulus, and Mars put on a show.

KRIS
They’ll form a triangle small enough to fit within your binoculars.

RACHEL
In binoculars you’ll see the waxing gibbous moon on the left.

KRIS
Mars and Regulus will appear star-like and form the triangle’s two other corners on the right.

RACHEL
Regulus will be the slightly brighter than Mars and white in color. Compare that to the orange color of Mars

PAUL
May 14th is the 35th anniversary of the launch of Skylab.

KRIS
Skylab was America’s first space station.

RACHEL
As NASA anticipated the end of the Apollo moon missions, they started developing new uses for their Apollo hardware.

KRIS
Two of the possible uses were a space telescope mounted to the Lunar Module and a space station based on the third stage of the Apollo moon rocket.

RACHEL
Because of budget constraints, NASA combined the telescope and space station into a single program called Skylab.

PAUL
Skylab’s goal was to prove humans could function in space while performing useful tasks, like astronomical observations.

KRIS
Using the last Saturn 5 booster, Skylab rocketed into space as the booster’s third stage.

RACHEL
Skylab was launched as a complete space station; so the astronauts wouldn’t have to perform any construction to get it up and running.

KRIS
NASA referred to this space station design as a dry lab.

RACHEL
In 1973, the first two stages of the last Saturn 5 successfully placed Skylab into a 270 mile high orbit.

KRIS
However, during its ascent into space, the station’s micrometeorite shield deployed away from the space station.

PAUL
This was not designed to happen until Skylab entered earth orbit.

RACHEL
As a result of its early deployment, aerodynamic forces ripped the micrometeoroid shield off Skylab.

KRIS
So once in orbit, a portion of Skylab was bare, unprotected, and exposed to the sun and space.

PAUL
Skylab carried two large solar arrays for power.

RACHEL
However, when the micrometeoroid shield was ripped off, one of Skylab’s two solar arrays partially deployed also.

KRIS
So when Skylab’s thruster rockets fired to place Skylab into the proper orbit, their exhaust hit the deployed array and ripped it off too.

RACHEL
The remaining solar array was trapped beneath debris from the accident and was unable to deploy.

KRIS
Fortunately, Skylab’s telescope was undamaged and its solar array deployed properly.

PAUL
In the end, Skylab was left in a safe orbit but with rising temperatures and very little power.

RACHEL
The first manned visit to Skylab was scheduled to launch a day after Skylab, but because of the damage to the space station, their launch was rescheduled for ten days later.

KRIS
During that time, NASA developed a plan for the Apollo astronauts to repair Skylab.

RACHEL
The repairs were successful and allowed all three planned astronaut crews to visit the space station.

KRIS
The longest mission was flown by the third crew in 1974 and they resided in the space station for 84 days.

RACHEL
After the third crew left, NASA hoped Skylab could remain in orbit until the Space Shuttle could perform a recovery mission.

KRIS
However, increased solar activity expanded earth’s atmosphere into the orbit of Skylab. This thicker atmosphere created more drag on Skylab, causing it to return to earth sooner than expected.

PAUL
As a result, the 100 ton Skylab returned to earth on July 11th, 1979 before the first Space Shuttle could be launched

RACHEL
Portions of the massive and out of control space station landed in Australia and the Indian Ocean. Fortunately, no people or property were harmed.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the second week of May. Next week the moon and Antares put on a show as does Mars and the Beehive star cluster.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul.

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL.. and Rachel.