European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Ieon a a 4f pm it can ground control keep skylab flying until space shuttle astronauts reach it it Toti ithe. Boi by Howard Benedict associated press he skylab space station now has a slightly longer life aloft and the Earth below has a breather thanks to a group of dedicated engineers who la bored three tense months to arrest the big satellite s fall from fall could have been dangerous and might still be if skylab drops uncontrolled Over a populated in a touch and go Effort the engineers managed to buy time by adding several months to skylab s Orbital life. They la still have to baby sit the big space station in the year ahead but their Miracle on a shoestring As the of engineers Call it won the Chance to keep skylab aloft Lon enough for astronauts to rendezvous with it next year. The astronauts will either raise skylab s orbit or propel itt Hack to Earth Over Ocean areas away from population a but Success is by no Means assured. The big question is whether the astronauts new space shuttle will be ready in time. There Are development problems mainly with the engine and the first Orbital flight already has slipped from next March to at least june. The National aeronautics and space administration thinks it has at least a 50-50 Chance to shake out the shut to 4tie bugs in time. Skylab now is expected to drop out of the Jefe sky Between november 1979 and april 1980. 1 there s also the matter of Money for the rocket pack age which the spacemen would attach to skylab to do the f to. Nasa already has committed about $10 million to the device called a space but the House appropriations committee in May Cut out 20.5 million the Agency had asked for it in next year s budget. Committee members said then they did t think skylab would stay up Long enough. But after reviewing results of the recent life extending Maneu vers they said the would consider restoring the funds. That will be decided in August or september after a thorough study of the status of both the station and the shuttle. The Money would not be wasted because the reusable Scooter can be assigned to a number of space projects. Another question Mark is whether skylab will hold its new position in space. An indication that things can go wrong came in mid july when the failure of three electrical components drained some Battery Power and knocked out the gyroscopes causing the station to Roll. Ground controllers successfully recharged the Batter ies by drawing Power from the Sun through solar panels. This enabled them to restart the gyroscopes and stabilize the vehicle. The engineers who prolonged skylab s life with computers and some Long distance radio magic Hope their work was t for naught it would be a shame to see it Al go Down the says one. The climactic moment Lor them came Early on sunday june 11, in a makeshift control room at the Houston space Center. Sixteen tired men were crowded around to like Date consoles awaiting the Man Euver that would shift skylab s Orbital position. At 3 28 a.m., flight controller Bill Peters instructed tracking station on Bermuda to transmit the single com Mand code "1088.""transmit 1088 Mark it Bermuda report later it added it s started on its Maneu Peters said. A feeling of Relief filled the control room. There was no Celebration. Just a few handshakes and Well for 1088 was one of the easier moves the team had asked of the unmanned skylab during the dramatic three month had some pretty scary moments in that time says Peters. One Cliffhanger after another. That Lastman Euver was a piece of cake in comparison. Hell we did t even know if skylab was still alive when that final command ordered the spaceship s gyros copes to tip the nose Down the final four degrees that would align its Long Axis parallel to the Earth Small end Forward. It added months to the station s life by minimizing the atmospheric drag slowly tugging the 85-ton station toward the Maneu vers directed by Peters team the station the world s largest manmade satellite could have plummeted Back through he atmosphere As Early As next Spring. Nasa officials a that on such an uncontrolled re entry. Skylab could Shower debris on a popu lated it comes Down its inces of killing anyone Are pretty Remote one study compared it with a Shower of meteorites Landing on Earl says Nasa administrator the big sat. Mite s fall from orbit. Could have been dangerous and might still be if skylab drops uncontrolled Over Page 10 the stars and stripes a populated area sunday july 30, 1978 Robert a. Frosch. He noted that 75 Percedo path is Over water and much of the rest thinly populated areas. But skylab also passes above most 4 metropolitan areas in a of the dotted 1 of South America Central and Sot Africa the Middle East. Swoben 1 India Southeast Asia and Australia. Computer calculations indicate that into the atmosphere it could scatter i 3.000 Miles Long and 100 Miles , weighing from a few ounces to i pounds could survive the searing re entry what concerns Nasa is skylab s Ste. It i and 22 feet in diameter and has the Vohnna Jeroom House. While its aluminium skin Metal parts would Burn up from Wiperts feel the Large fuel tanks structural i and titanium and a Lead film storage Box survive. Skylab served As Orbital borne for Threeman astronaut teams for periods of i Days. When the last Crew abandoned it to mated it would stay aloft at least until i time to Send a manned shuttle up before it trolled to Earth. " but last january the North command which keeps track of orbit the alarm the skylab is falling faster Norad said in four years it had i Point of 276 Miles to 242 Miles and berating drag Force would pull it i entry within a problem a higher thin Normal spots those dark magnetic sex face. They spew ultraviolet atmosphere heating it and causing it to Down satellites sailing through. Sunspot activity will increase in the i it beads for a 1980 Peak in an Loyear Cycle. Thus alerted Nasa studied its Choice. Way to Speed up the shuttle this nation s i manned suggested that if the were operating perhaps a i a could Long its life. Named to head the Effort was Bui Peta Bead in charge of shuttle electrical i son space Center in also had worked on the ship but be was selected mainly hence with the Agena their anon gemini astronauts chased Down and i1966. Agena used the same Type of skylab he says. Managing that i would be vital if we were to do anything " Peters had no skylab experience m of Abouo i
