1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: and a love of all things tech. And just in 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: case this sounds different, it's because I'm once again recording 6 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: on my own equipment, but in the office studio. So 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: just in case you think it sounds weird, and it's 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,199 Speaker 1: not just me, that's why. But we recently did a 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: history of the evolution of the space suit and how 10 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: countries like Russia and the United States dedicated millions of 11 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: dollars in research and development to create suits that would 12 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: help astronauts and cosmonauts survive the rigors of traveling to 13 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: space and then back to Earth. I mentioned the International 14 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: Space Station a couple of times in that series and thought, 15 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: you know, I haven't really done any episodes talking about 16 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: space stations or how the I s S came to 17 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: be and what folks do up there as they whizz 18 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: around the Earth at four point seven six miles per 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: second or seven point six six kilometers per second for 20 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: you know, everyone who's not in the US. And I 21 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: figured that it was more than past time to cover 22 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: these sort of things, because you know, the modules that 23 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: make up the I S S were originally rated for 24 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: a fifteen year lifespan, but the first modules for the 25 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: International Space Station launched in So if you do your math, 26 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 1: that means that puts the fifteen year market two thousand thirteen, 27 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: and we are well past that as it stands. There's 28 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: hope that we could see the I S S continue 29 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: to operate for another few years to hit that thirty 30 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: year mark, but recently we've seen some claims that suggest 31 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: the end might need to come a little earlier than 32 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: that if we want to avert catastrophe, because parts of 33 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: the I S S are a little worse for where 34 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: But of course this is tech stuff that means we 35 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: have to dive into a lot of history before we 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: get to the I S S. In fact, spoiler alert, 37 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: we won't be touching on the International Space Station in 38 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: this episode. We'll be getting that in a later one. 39 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: So the International Space Station was not the first space 40 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: station in orbit. That honor goes to the first Saliot 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: space Station, and there were multiple of those, and those 42 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: came from the then Soviet Union. Now earlier this year 43 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: we passed the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Saliot 44 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: one that got off the ground literally on April nineteenth, 45 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: ninety one. Now, this space station is important for quite 46 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: a few reasons. Not only was it the first space station, 47 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: but elements in the Saliot would continue down through a 48 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: line of different space station and spacecraft designs out of 49 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: the U. S. S R, and then later out of 50 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: Russia to find their way into components that are now 51 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: part of the International Space Station. So it's all going 52 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: to tie together in the end. But first, let's talk 53 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: about Salute, which means salute. Surprisingly enough, it got its 54 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: start in the nineteen sixties with Soviet scientists discussing the 55 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: possibility of developing a space station specifically for military purposes. 56 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: So this project had the name alamas A l m 57 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: ay Z, which means diamond in Russian and I'm sure 58 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: I'm mispronouncing it. My apologies to all you Russian speakers 59 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: out there. So the real purpose of the Alma's stations 60 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: were to serve as reconnaissance operations, so spying. In other words. Now, 61 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,119 Speaker 1: generally speaking, it's not incredibly wise to advertise that you're 62 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: engaged in spying. It's kind of defeats the purpose. So 63 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: the Soviets decided that they would mask that and they 64 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: would launch a series of civilian space stations UH specifically 65 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: dedicated to scientific research, and then they would just kind 66 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: of hide the military ones in the mix. So some 67 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: of those stations would genuinely be about scientific exploration and experimentation, 68 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,119 Speaker 1: some of them were more about peeping on the neighbors. Also. 69 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: The original plan was for the Alma's stations to be 70 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: modular in design, but the success of the Apollo eleven 71 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: moon landing in nineteen sixty nine spurred the Soviets to 72 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:41,119 Speaker 1: move up their timeline and that necessitated a change in plans. 73 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: So instead of going with the modular Alma's space station, 74 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: which would mean that you would have to launch components 75 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: in separate launches, and then crews would need to go 76 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: up into space and assemble those modules together to create 77 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: a space station, the Soviets decided to instead rely on 78 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: a Salute design and all in one space station that 79 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: could be launched fully constructed into space. The first Saliot 80 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,480 Speaker 1: was one of the civilian missions, so not one of 81 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: the secret military ones. UH. Saliot two, three, and five 82 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: were all military projects, so they were really mixed in 83 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: there also, Quickside notes Saliot to suffered a catastrophic failure 84 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:26,600 Speaker 1: just two weeks of it being launched into orbit. The 85 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:33,159 Speaker 1: station depressurized after a collision with a part of the 86 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: launch vehicle system and ended up moving lower in orbit 87 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 1: until it re entered the our atmosphere and broke apart. Now, 88 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: fortunately there were no cosmonauts aboard because no Soviet crew 89 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: had yet visited the launched station, which meant that no 90 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: lives were lost as a result of this incident. So 91 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: to visit a Saliot station, in order to get there, 92 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: crew of cosmonauts would launch inside a Soyu's space capsule 93 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: talked about those in the space suit episodes, and this 94 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: capsule would be you know, attached to a launch vehicle, 95 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: a rocket in other words, and the Soyus capsule would 96 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: get launched into orbit and that would be on a 97 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:23,719 Speaker 1: trajectory to dock with the Salut station using a new 98 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: probe and drogue docking system. So the probe is the 99 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: part that you know, docks inside the drogue. And it 100 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: was originally going to have the name Zaria, the original 101 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: original space station was. In fact, it had that name 102 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: so long the engineers actually painted the name on the spacecraft. 103 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: It had the name Zaria on it. That means dawn 104 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: by the way. However, for several reasons, and they were 105 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: all pretty valid ones, the Soviets decided that they needed 106 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: to rename the spacecraft, so they renamed Saliot. But there 107 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: wasn't enough time to give the space station a new 108 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: paint jobs, so while it was named Saliott, it had 109 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,359 Speaker 1: the name Zaria painted on it. Also, the development of 110 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: the Saliot station had some drama attached to it, and 111 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to do a full episode about the 112 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: Soviet era space program to talk more about not just 113 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: the program and the technology used and the goals of 114 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: the program, but also the rivalries that existed within the 115 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: program itself. So the guy who designed the Soya's spacecraft 116 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: was Seragei Korolov, and the guy who came up with 117 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: the Alma's Reconnaissance station, which eventually got merged into the 118 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: Saliot program was Vladimir Chellamy and Chelloman also designed the 119 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: Transport Supply Ship or the t k S that was 120 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: designed to resupply the Alma's space station. And these two, 121 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: these two Soviets had some pretty intense battles within the 122 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: Soviet space program, and each attempted to level ridge various 123 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: political favors in order to push their own projects ahead 124 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: of the other. So I will have to do a 125 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: full episode about that at some point. It's pretty fascinating. 126 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: But let's talk about the first Saliot space station briefly. 127 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: The main part of the station was cylindrical. It measured 128 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: forty eight feet long or about fourteen point six meters, 129 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: and it was a stepped cylinder, so in other words, 130 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: like it wasn't a smooth cylinder. There were sections of 131 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 1: the cylinder that had uh different diameters, right, so you 132 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: might have a few meters of of space that are 133 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: one diameter and the next few are different. So at 134 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,239 Speaker 1: its widest section, which was the rear of the spacecraft, 135 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: it measured thirteen point nine feet or four point to 136 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: five meters in diameter, and inside there was around three 137 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: thousand five cubic feet of volume for the cosmonauts to 138 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: live and work in, and as a NASA page on 139 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: the topic puts it, it was about the size of 140 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,559 Speaker 1: a large in ground swimming pool. Inside there though not 141 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: the shape, but you know, same sort of space. The 142 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: station solar arrays that collected energy from the Sun to 143 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: power the station were really important, right. They were using 144 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: solar power to provide electrical power to the station, and 145 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: it also had a lot of scientific equipment aboard, enough 146 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: that the equipment weighed two thousand, six hundred pounds here 147 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: on Earth or just under one thousand. It had antenna 148 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: to allow it to transmit messages back to Earth. Very important, 149 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: and the cosmonauts were meant to inhabit the station, conduct 150 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: observations and experiments using the various equipment and telescopes aboard 151 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: the station, and generally pushed science forward by leagues. Heck, 152 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: the cosmonauts themselves were technically experiments because no one was 153 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: really sure what the long term effects of a prolonged 154 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: mission in space might be on the human body. Uh. 155 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: And of course there were the military operations as well, 156 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: where cosmonauts would be conducting reconnaissance missions rather than scientific ones. Now, 157 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: the station include did a refrigerator and a food warmer. 158 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: Cosmonauts wore special suits that provided resistance to major muscle 159 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,439 Speaker 1: groups in order to you know, exercise, and the reason 160 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: for that was to fight against the tendency for cosmonauts 161 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: to lose significant muscle mass while just maneuvering through a 162 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: microgravity environment. The resistance meant that just moving around would 163 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,959 Speaker 1: require a bit more exertion than normal, and the station 164 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: also had a treadmill as well as elastic restraints to 165 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,079 Speaker 1: hold you onto the treadmill so that the cosmonauts could 166 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: take exercise. For the same reasons, you know, you wanted 167 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: to fight against things like muscle loss and bone density 168 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: loss as best you could. Unfortunately, when the first Saliot 169 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: space station innered orbit in April nineteen seventy one, the 170 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: protective cover for the scientific instruments stayed in place rather 171 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: than jettisoning off from the station as was planned, and 172 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: that meant that a lot of those experiments just couldn't 173 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: happen because the instruments were still covered by a casing 174 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: you couldn't remove. Still, the station was habitable, and on 175 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: April the Saya's ten space capsule launched, carrying three cosmonauts 176 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: headed off to move into the station. Only there was 177 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: an issue. The probe and drogue apparatus failed to create 178 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: a good docking seal, so there was no hard lock 179 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: with the space station, so the crew of the capsule 180 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 1: could not make the transfer over into the space station, 181 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: so they were forced to ultimately return home without having 182 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: gone into the space station. But then a subsequent crew 183 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: aboard the next capsule, Soya's eleven, which had a newly 184 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,719 Speaker 1: designed probe to interlocked, interlocked with the drogue mechanism on 185 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: the space station that launched on June six of that year. 186 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: So the first saliot did eventually get a crew, it 187 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: just took a couple of tries. That crew stayed aboard 188 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: the station for twenty four days. That was a record 189 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: for the amount of time spent in space at that point, 190 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: and tragically that crew perished on their way back to Earth. 191 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: In fact, from what I understand, these are the only people, 192 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: at least acknowledged anyway, who have died in space. There's 193 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: been a lot of accidents related to space missions, but 194 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,079 Speaker 1: most of them have happened within the atmosphere of Earth. 195 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: Um this one did not. The Saya's capsule de pressurized 196 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: and tragically all three crew member died as a result, 197 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 1: And in fact, this was the tragedy that would change 198 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: the way the Soviet Union approached the Sayers capsule and 199 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,439 Speaker 1: space suits. If you remember from the space suit episodes, 200 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: the Soviets decided for a while that they just would 201 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: do away with pressure suits and space suits for any 202 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: missions that didn't require extra vehicular activities, that is, spacewalks. 203 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: But after the disaster of Saya's eleven, the Soviets then 204 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: redesigned the Saya's capsule and it would only carry a 205 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: crew of two cosmonauts instead of three, and that would 206 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: allow enough space inside the capsule for both of those 207 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 1: cosmonauts to wear pressurized space suits during launch and landing 208 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: to protect against the sort of thing and to at 209 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: least give them a chance. As for that first space station, 210 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:21,440 Speaker 1: it remained in orbit for one days, and the redesign 211 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: of the Sayus capsule meant that no other crew was 212 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,719 Speaker 1: going to be able to visit Salut before it was 213 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,679 Speaker 1: no longer habitable, and so the Soviets chose to de 214 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: orbit the space station so that it would re enter 215 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: their atmosphere and break apart over the Pacific Ocean. So 216 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: only one crew actually got to the first Saliot space station, 217 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 1: and we already mentioned that the second Saliot space station, 218 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: the first of the military ones, experienced catastrophic failure, again 219 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: fortunately without anyone inside it, but then the Soviets launched 220 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: lots of other ones, and the third space station went 221 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: up just a few days before the United States was 222 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: to launch its own first space station, and we'll get 223 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: to that in a little bit. But anyway, that third 224 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: one also failed to achieve orbit and would receive the 225 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:13,559 Speaker 1: name Cosmos five five seven, And information on that is 226 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: kind of limited. The Soviets were incredibly secretive with their 227 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: space program, and so finding reliable sources that talk about 228 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: hard facts is difficult. You get a lot of you 229 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: get a lot of speculation, and you get a lot 230 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: of reports that may or may not be reliable. In fact, 231 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: NASA just described this as quote an unmanned Soya's type 232 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: vehicle end quote, and that the funding agency is quote 233 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: unknown end quote. But then in parentheses behind that says USSR. 234 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: So I guess kind of known. Anyway, The actual Salut 235 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: three mission, which was one of the military missions disguised 236 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: as a civilian one, reportedly included the testing of a 237 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: twenty three millimeter gun attached to the stage sation so 238 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: like um like a conventional gun actually as part of 239 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: a station weaponry. Now there's very little information on this, 240 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: so I hesitate to relay any stories about it. And besides, 241 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff has actually contradictory reports, so it's 242 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: hard for me to say what happened because there are 243 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: accounts that contradict each other. But yeah, at least according 244 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: to some stories, this was the first spacecraft to be weaponized, 245 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: and at least some of the stories indicate that the 246 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: Soviets did test fire it while the space station was 247 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: an orbit, though supposedly not when any crew were actually 248 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: aboard the space station, So the command to fire the 249 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: gun was given from the ground. The way this gun 250 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: was on the station. By the way, you couldn't move 251 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: the gun to point at targets. You would actually have 252 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: to reorient the entire station to point at whatever it 253 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: was you're going to fire at. Uh, don't have much 254 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: more information about that. Got a lot of speculation though. 255 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: In total, there were seven official Saliot space stations, but 256 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: nine attempts. The Cosmos five five seven was one of 257 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: the failed attempts, and another one was called the do 258 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: OS two space station. Both of those failed to achieve orbits, 259 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: so they didn't get the Saliot designation. Then again, as 260 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: I mentioned, the Saliot to space station achieved orbit that 261 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: had to be de orbited within two weeks due to malfunctions. 262 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: Saliot six and seven were of a different design than 263 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: their predecessors. The older Saliot stations had a single docking 264 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: port at one end of the cylinder, and that's where 265 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: the Soya's capsule would connect to the station, But six 266 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: and seven had two docking ports, one on either end, 267 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 1: so the Soyas capsule could dock at one side of 268 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: the cylinder and the other side could serve as a 269 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: docking point for resupply ships. In addition, it made it 270 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: possible for a second Soyas capsule to dock with the station, 271 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: so you could have two crews aboard the station at 272 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: one each with you know, two cosmonauts, and they can 273 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: meet at the space station simultaneously. This allowed the Soviets 274 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: to have some guest cosmonauts go on trips to the 275 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: space stations in orbit. The cargo ships called Progress were 276 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,359 Speaker 1: automated and they would dock with new supply so there 277 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: was no crew aboard these, it was just you know, 278 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: resupply ships. These were all important steps towards creating the 279 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,120 Speaker 1: next generation of space stations. Now the first six Saliot 280 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: space stations launched in the nineteen seventies. Most of them 281 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 1: re entered the R's atmosphere just a few months after 282 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: they had launched, so they didn't stay up there for 283 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 1: very long. Saliot five stuck around a little bit longer. 284 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 1: It launched in June nineteen seventy six and stayed up 285 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: until August of nineteen seventy seven, so it was up 286 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: for more than a year. Saliot six went up in 287 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: September nineteen seventy seven and re entered Earth's atmosphere in 288 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: July of nineteen eighty two, so it was up there 289 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: for about five years. Then the final mission launched in 290 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: April nineteen eighty two and stayed up until February, so 291 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: nearly a decade. Pretty impressive for an early space station design. 292 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: The civilian stations all had a core module that had 293 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: the designation d O S, so that d O S 294 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: two was one of those. The military stations had a 295 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: core modular designation as h O P S. The d 296 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,880 Speaker 1: S design would then extend beyond the saliott era into 297 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: the next phase of the Soviet Union's space program, which 298 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: would include the Mirror, which spoiler alert, we also won't 299 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 1: get to in this episode. But when we come back, 300 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: we'll switch over to talk about sky Lab for a bit, 301 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: but first let's take a break. So, the Soviets were 302 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: launching space stations in nineteen one, and it would take 303 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 1: a couple of years before the United States was ready 304 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: to follow suit. But we've got some overlap that we 305 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: need to talk about, because obviously the stuff isn't just happening, 306 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 1: you know, one after the other. There's a lot of 307 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 1: stuff happening at the same time. And actually we need 308 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: to backtrack as far as the late nineteen fifties and 309 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: the scientist Werner von Braun. His is a complicated history, 310 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: which is a pretty nice way of saying he was 311 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: once a Nazi, or at least he worked for the 312 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: Nazis during World War Two developing long range rocket based weaponry, 313 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: and he was one of the engineers responsible for the 314 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: infamous V two rocket. Some accounts suggest that he wasn't 315 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:36,400 Speaker 1: particularly sympathetic to the Nazis, but rather worked under them 316 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,360 Speaker 1: because he had little choice unless he was to abandon 317 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: his life's pursuit of engineering. And so essentially he was saying, 318 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 1: I had to work for them. They were the ones 319 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: who were letting me do science. Now I find that 320 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:51,920 Speaker 1: explanation somewhat unconvincing and certainly not satisfying, but at any rate, 321 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,399 Speaker 1: Von Brown, along with more than fift hundred other German 322 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:00,679 Speaker 1: engineers and scientists, where they were all secretly away to 323 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,920 Speaker 1: America after World War Two as part of Operation paper Clip. 324 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,399 Speaker 1: So while the United States and the rest of the 325 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: world we're you know, seeking out Nazi officers and trying 326 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: to hold them accountable for various war crimes up through 327 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: World War two and and after uh, the scientists and 328 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 1: engineers were kind of spared that because they were seen 329 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: as being useful assets, so they were relocated to America 330 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: to work for us instead. That's also a fascinating story, 331 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:32,879 Speaker 1: that entire story of Operation paper Clip. It's one I 332 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: should probably do a full episode on and maybe I'll 333 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: get some of the lads from the stuff they don't 334 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:39,639 Speaker 1: want you to know to come and join me for 335 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: that one. Anyway, one of von Braun's ideas that you 336 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,439 Speaker 1: know once he made the transition over to America was 337 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: to use a multi stage rocket in order to travel 338 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: to the Moon. But he also had the idea of 339 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,199 Speaker 1: using the upper stage of the rocket to convert it 340 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: in orbit to serve as a scientific laboratory. The upper 341 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: stage would hold propellant during launch, so it would be 342 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: part of your launch vehicle. But then a subsequent visiting 343 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: crew could go to that, uh, that stage of the 344 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 1: rocket which would be in orbit, and then they could 345 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,479 Speaker 1: vent any remaining propellant out of that. And it's an 346 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: airtight container, so they could then fill the container with 347 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: breathable oxygen and convert it into an orbiting laboratory. He 348 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: called this proposal Horizon, and it would turn out that 349 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: sky Lab, the United States first space station, would kind 350 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 1: of follow this design. Now largely this was thanks to 351 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,919 Speaker 1: Van Brown advocating for this approach, as he anticipated he 352 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,640 Speaker 1: and his team wouldn't have a whole lot of work 353 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,959 Speaker 1: to do once the Apollo missions completed, and you know, 354 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: guy has got to get paid. So in the late 355 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, NASA began to consider, and not for the 356 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: first time, the potential for establishing a space station in 357 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: orbit around Earth for a more lasting presence in space. 358 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: The Apollo program was proving to be a success after 359 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: an initial catastrophe with Apollo one, and you had the 360 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: first astronauts landing on the Moon in nineteen sixty nine, 361 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: so the agency really began to look ahead while still 362 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: pursuing additional lunar missions. The Soviets were planning out how 363 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: to combine military operations with a civilian space station program, 364 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: but NASA was looking to create a more persistent presence 365 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: in orbit, and that became the origin of the sky 366 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: Lab project. Now, the plan originally was to launch sky 367 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 1: Lab as a wet works station. That means following the 368 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: style of von Brown, having a multi stage rocket in 369 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: which all the stages are holding propellant and one of 370 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: them you then convert into a workstation. However, that changed 371 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,119 Speaker 1: for a couple of different reasons. One is that NASA 372 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: originally had plans for additional Apollo missions after Apollo seventeen, 373 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: but those got scrapped, and it meant that effectively NASA 374 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:10,640 Speaker 1: had a couple of extra Saturn five rockets, so they 375 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: could then launch sky Lab on a Saturn five rocket, 376 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: one of the ones that was originally going to be 377 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: part of the Apollo program, and thus they could have 378 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,680 Speaker 1: a special payload attached to this rocket that would hold 379 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,360 Speaker 1: the scientific instruments and a solar observatory, as well as 380 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: an orbiting workstation where astronauts would actually live and work, 381 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: so the upper stage of this launch vehicle, the S 382 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:40,360 Speaker 1: four B stage, would become the orbital workstation. Again. Originally 383 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,679 Speaker 1: the plan was this was gonna be a wet workshop. 384 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: They were going to pump out or vent out the propellant, 385 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 1: the extra propellant inside of it and then converted into 386 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,439 Speaker 1: a workstation. But as it would turn out, by the 387 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: time it came to launch, the plans had changed, so 388 00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: the S four B stage didn't need to hold any 389 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: propel and at all, so it could be just a 390 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: dry workshop, which dramatically simplifies things. Uh, there would be 391 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,879 Speaker 1: no need to do that conversion stage while in orbit. 392 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: You could actually set everything out here on Earth. And 393 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: the reason that was possible is that the Saturn five 394 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: launch vehicle, which again was not originally intended to be 395 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: a sky Lab launch vehicle, is powerful enough with just 396 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: the earlier stages to get the payload into orbit without 397 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: the need for the Saturn four B stage to also 398 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,879 Speaker 1: be part of the launch vehicle. So the station itself 399 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: would have lots of different scientific instruments aboard. A large 400 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,880 Speaker 1: focus was on the study of the Sun and tightly 401 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,399 Speaker 1: wrapped around the S four B stage was this micro 402 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: meteoroid shield. Uh. This shield was meant to do two 403 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: major things to protect the the space station against micro meteoroids, 404 00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:00,200 Speaker 1: so tiny particles traveling at intense speeds that could would 405 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: cause massive damage if they were to collide with the 406 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: space station. But was also supposed to be a heat 407 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: shield because since this laboratory was meant to study the Sun, 408 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: it was going to be exposed to solar radiation and 409 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: it could get pretty warm out there if you didn't 410 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: have a way of you know, throwing some shade, I guess. 411 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: And this was all supposed to deploy once the station 412 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: achieved orbit. The idea was that the sky Lab would 413 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,920 Speaker 1: get into orbit, it would deploy its solar arrays, and 414 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: it would deploy its micro meteoroid shield. That did not happen. 415 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: See I used words like it was it was to 416 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: deploy and it and that the solar panels were to 417 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: provide electricity. Because these things did not go smoothly when 418 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: it came time for Skylab to actually launch, which was 419 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: in May nine, three two years after the first Salut 420 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: station went into orbit. So during launch, the micro meteoroid 421 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,679 Speaker 1: shield was damaged. It became dislodged and it tore away 422 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: from the spacecraft. It also damaged one of the solar panels, 423 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: which subsequently also tore away from the spacecraft. So you 424 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 1: only had one main solar panel left behind. I mean 425 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,640 Speaker 1: you had one, had some for the solar observatory, which 426 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,760 Speaker 1: was part of the scientific instruments, but the main orbiting 427 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: workstation only had one solar panel left, and it was 428 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: partially jammed, so it was unable to fully extend to 429 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: the way it was supposed to be. The shield, like 430 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,919 Speaker 1: I said, was meant to provide protection not just against 431 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: micro meteoroids but also heat. So without it, the station 432 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,399 Speaker 1: started to reach temperatures of fifty two degrees celsius, and 433 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: that's about a d degrees fahrenheit. That's way too hot 434 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: for astronauts to take up residents for any sort of 435 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: extended stay. The first Skylab mission with a crew was 436 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: called sky Lab two. This gets a little confusing because, 437 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,000 Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the Soviets and the 438 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: Saliot missions, those numbers like salut to sell at three 439 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: that refers to separate space stations, right, Each of those 440 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,280 Speaker 1: are space stations that either got into orbit or suffered 441 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: a failure. But sky Lab, when we talk about Skylab 442 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: to Skylab three and sky Lab four, those are just 443 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,359 Speaker 1: missions that were going to the one sky Lab station. 444 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: There was only ever one sky Lab, so when you're 445 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: sky Lab two, that's referring to the mission that went 446 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,280 Speaker 1: to the station. It brought the first three astronauts up 447 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: to the Skylab station, and obviously one of the top 448 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 1: priorities for that mission was to repair the space station 449 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: after it's troublesome launch and try to get it into 450 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: working order. Several days had passed since it had launched, 451 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: and there were already some big issues that the astronauts 452 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 1: had to address. First of all was that problem with 453 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: the heat so they installed an ingenious little thing to 454 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 1: fix it, and um it was good because there was 455 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: a real fear that the entire mission was going to 456 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: have to get scrapped because of the launch problems that 457 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: had happened. But the crew of Skylab two were able 458 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: to install a new sun shield of parasol. Essentially, it 459 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,159 Speaker 1: was a temporary fix. A later Skylab mission would install 460 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: a more permanent heat shield, but this was like a 461 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 1: little parasol, like just like you would hold up you know, 462 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: if you were a Victorian and you wanted to take 463 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: a stroll in the park, and they installed it into 464 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: the station, which kept the station at a more tolerable temperature. 465 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: The crew also made repairs to the exterior of the 466 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: space station and a couple of e v A s 467 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: extra vehicular activities spacewalks. In other words, they unjammed the 468 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 1: remaining main solar panel. And the duration of Skylab two's 469 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: mission aboard the space station was twenty eight days, so 470 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: they were up there for four weeks. Uh, pretty phenomenal. 471 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: Then you had two other Skylab missions, he had Skylab 472 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: three and sky Lab four. Those would see crews spend 473 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 1: fifty nine days with Skylab three and eighty four days 474 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: for sky Lab four. Pretty phenomenal. And Uh, here's a 475 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: cool personal connection that I just thought I would throw 476 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,920 Speaker 1: in there. One of the astronauts in the sky Lab 477 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: three mission was Owen Garriott, a scientist astronaut. He was 478 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: up there for that fifty nine day period. As I said, 479 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: he would later go on a second space mission in 480 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: nine three he was aboard the space Shuttle Columbia. And 481 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: he also was the father of Richard Garriott. Then they 482 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: might not mean anything to you unless you're a big 483 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,240 Speaker 1: computer game fan like computer role playing game fan. Because 484 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: Richard Garriott is also known as Lord British. He is 485 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: the guy who created the Ultimate series of computer games. 486 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: He's also one of just a few civilians who ever 487 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: got to visit the International Space Station. I'll talk about 488 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,240 Speaker 1: that in another episode. I used to chat with Richard 489 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: Garriott at conventions. I met him and like we knew 490 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: each other a little bit and would talk. I wouldn't 491 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: say we were friends, because we were never that close, 492 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: but we were friendly with one another. Uh. And that 493 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: is as far as my personal connection to sky Lab 494 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: or the I S S goes, But it's still be 495 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: kind of cool, I think anyway. So the first mission 496 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: with a crew launched in May seventy three. The final 497 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: mission with a crew returned to Earth in February ninety four, 498 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: so you're looking at less than a year for all 499 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: the Skylab missions. However, Skylab itself stayed up in orbit 500 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: for quite some time, longer than that. NASA actually hoped 501 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 1: to be able to boost sky Lab to a higher 502 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: orbit and to send Space Shuttle missions there and extend 503 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: its mission even longer. However, the spatial program ran behind schedule, 504 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: and sky Lab ultimately ran out of time. Increased overer 505 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: activity and a deteriorating orbit meant that sky Labs days 506 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: were numbered. It was going to re enter Earth's atmosphere. 507 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: There was no way to avoid it, because there was 508 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: no way to push it further out into orbit. In July, 509 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: sky Lab re entered or atmosphere. NASA had previously attempted 510 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: to adjust sky Labs orientation. This wasn't an effort to 511 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,400 Speaker 1: kind of try to steer it toward like an ocean, 512 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: so it wouldn't fall over a populated area. There was 513 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: a real concern and in some places, like a media circus, 514 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: regarding where this space station might fall, and that it 515 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: could potentially you know, kill someone, or cause massive damage 516 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: or or collide with, like, you know, a population center. 517 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: A NASA study indicated that the agency itself was concerned 518 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 1: about such an outcome. Now as it happened, the station 519 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: did not hit the ocean as intended, at least not 520 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: all of it. Some parts of it hit the Indian Ocean, 521 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: but it broke apart in Earth's atmosphere much lower than 522 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: anyone expected. Actually, it's it remained intact far longer than 523 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 1: people thought it would, and pieces of it hit a 524 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 1: largely unpopulated region of Western Australia. Uh and a lot 525 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: of folks retrieve pieces of sky Lab and put them 526 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,240 Speaker 1: on display. I think that was even in like a 527 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: Miss Universe pageant or something. But yeah, crazy stuff. So 528 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 1: let's talk about some of the tech aboard sky Lab 529 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: and what it was doing of there. So the parameters 530 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: of the Skylab mission were to quote, observe the Earth 531 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: to study natural resources and the environment, observe the Sun 532 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: to study high energy solar activity, study the effects of 533 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 1: weightlessness on the human body and assess crew adaptation to 534 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:50,160 Speaker 1: long duration spaceflight, study materials processing in microgravity, and perform 535 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,920 Speaker 1: experiments submitted by students for a classroom in space. Much 536 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 1: of the scientific instrumentation aboard sky Lab was optical, which 537 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: means tell Us hopes and related cameras and sensors. Chief 538 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: among these were the instruments attached to the Apollo Telescope 539 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: Mount or a t M. This major part of sky 540 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: Lab had an octagonal structure that measured three point four 541 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: meters across and four point four meters long, and within 542 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:24,520 Speaker 1: this octagonal structure was a cylindrical canister mounted in gimbal rings. 543 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: These are rings that can turn in a different you know, 544 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: different planes, so that you can reorient something that's mounted 545 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,880 Speaker 1: inside them. The gimbal rings allowed for a range of 546 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:38,160 Speaker 1: motion that let the cylinder point towards a specific region 547 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 1: of the sun, despite you know, other things going on 548 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: in space. Now, this was something I had not considered. 549 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: Banasa had to solve a problem in order to get 550 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 1: all of this to work, because we know from the 551 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: laws of motion that every action has an equal but 552 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 1: opposite reaction. So when we push against the Earth, technically 553 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: the Earth is pushing back. It's just most of us 554 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: are not dense enough for anyone to really notice this. 555 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:08,280 Speaker 1: But in microgravity, astronaut movements in the Skylab living quarters 556 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: could conceivably cause enough motion to disrupt sensitive scientific experiments 557 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: that required instruments to be precisely aimed at a specific 558 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,880 Speaker 1: point on the Sun. So if you need to be 559 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: focused on a very specific region of the Sun, but 560 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:26,720 Speaker 1: you're worried about motion, you have to solve that problem. 561 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,840 Speaker 1: So to mitigate this Skylab itself, the entire space station 562 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: had installed three control moment gyros or cmgs to stabilize 563 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,800 Speaker 1: the station, and these gyros were a double gimbal mounted 564 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:47,759 Speaker 1: and electrically driven system that could keep Skylabs orientation relatively maintained. 565 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: And I say relatively because it wasn't quite finally tuned 566 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: enough to stabilize the instruments aboard the A t M. 567 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: I'll quote a NASA document about how they achieved even 568 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 1: greater precision. Quote. This was accomplished with a solar pointing 569 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 1: control system PCs. The PCs sensed the sun's center to 570 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,719 Speaker 1: a few tenths of a second of arc and sent 571 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: error signals into the torque motors that controlled the rotational 572 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: positions of the A t M canister gimbals. Offset pointing 573 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,719 Speaker 1: in yaw or in pitch by steps of one point 574 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,720 Speaker 1: to five seconds of arc. Up to twenty four minutes 575 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: of arc could be introduced by counter rotating a pair 576 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,839 Speaker 1: of quartz wedges placed in the solar beam incident on 577 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: the yaw solar sensor, or a similar pair for pitch. 578 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 1: These solar sensors were one of the few items inherited 579 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 1: from the AO s oh okay h end quote right there, so, Jonathan. Here, 580 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,160 Speaker 1: here's a side note. The AO s O stands for 581 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: Advanced Orbiting Solar Observatory, which was a project that NASA 582 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: had planned in the nineteen sixties but ultimately had to 583 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,640 Speaker 1: scrap when it was clear that the tech wasn't really 584 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: ready yet and the spense of the project would be 585 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,480 Speaker 1: way beyond NASA's budget. All right, let me get back 586 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: to the quote. Control of offset pointing by rotating the 587 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:12,960 Speaker 1: prisms was accomplished by the crewman with his panel joystick. 588 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,280 Speaker 1: Digital indicators read out yaw and pitch to one second 589 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:20,600 Speaker 1: of arc and roll to one minute of arc. End quote. 590 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: All right, that's really complicated. It gets really technical, but 591 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: essentially what it's saying is that this system could correct 592 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: for those motions and keep the canister relatively uh stable 593 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: with regard to whatever it was aimed at. So kind 594 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: of like if you think of like stabilization technologies and 595 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:47,040 Speaker 1: digital cameras, it's in concepts similar to that. So much 596 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: of the observational work done aboard sky Lab had to 597 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 1: do with the sun, with the instruments taking multiple images 598 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: of the Sun at a specific wavelength of light. These 599 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,879 Speaker 1: instruments are called spectro heliographs, and they produce a mono 600 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: chromatic image, so you know, black and white image. So 601 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: why would you focus on a specific wavelength of light. Well, 602 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: it's one way to study the various elemental components of 603 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: a star, as different materials will give off different wavelengths 604 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: of light, So by looking at which wavelengths are the 605 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: most intense, you can kind of get an idea of 606 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:23,520 Speaker 1: which elements are the most plentiful and something like a 607 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:28,000 Speaker 1: star like the Sun. Onboard sky Lab, astronauts performed all 608 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:32,320 Speaker 1: sorts of scientific experiments, including medical experiments and some designed 609 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,400 Speaker 1: by students back on Earth. The crew also conducted some 610 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,120 Speaker 1: observations of Earth, which was quite an achievement because the 611 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,520 Speaker 1: planned experiments and instruments for that purpose have been part 612 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:46,880 Speaker 1: of a previously canceled NASA project called the Apollo Applications Mission. 613 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,320 Speaker 1: The history of NASA is one that's filled with lots 614 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:53,879 Speaker 1: of projects that were meant to be but never came 615 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: to fruition or were only partially developed before they were abandoned, 616 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:03,000 Speaker 1: and it's not always possible to salvage stuff from that. 617 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 1: But in this case, sky Lab was able to incorporate 618 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: some of the plans for the Apollo Applications Mission and 619 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: incorporate some Earth observation experiments with sky Lab. In all, 620 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,759 Speaker 1: the astronauts oversaw more than a hundred experiments, ranging from 621 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 1: using X ray and ultra violet cameras and spectrographs to 622 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,239 Speaker 1: stay the Sun to measuring stuff like mineral loss in 623 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,560 Speaker 1: a human body due to an extended stay in microgravity. 624 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:34,200 Speaker 1: Some of the student projects included things like observing Earth's atmospheres, 625 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:39,080 Speaker 1: ability to absorb radiant heat, X ray emissions from Jupiter, 626 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,439 Speaker 1: and capillary action studies in a state of free fall. 627 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: While the collective times spend aboard Skylab amounted to one 628 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,440 Speaker 1: seventy one days for all of the crude missions, the 629 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: amount of work done was truly little astronomical. I guess 630 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,239 Speaker 1: now when we come back, I'll cover one other really 631 00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:01,319 Speaker 1: big aspect of sky Lab, and that's what it's like 632 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:05,400 Speaker 1: taking a shower in space. But first let's take another break, 633 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 1: so I'll really have to do a full episode about 634 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 1: sky Lab in the future, so that I can actually 635 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 1: cover the whole thing and all the the science and 636 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,239 Speaker 1: technology aboard, because I know I'm just glancing over the 637 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,880 Speaker 1: topic in this episode, but that's because we have so 638 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,280 Speaker 1: much to cover to talk about space stations in general. However, 639 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: one thing I just could not leave behind was the 640 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:37,879 Speaker 1: shower aboard sky Lab. Now you might wonder how does 641 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: one shower in microgravity? If you've ever seen astronauts playing 642 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:47,280 Speaker 1: with I'm sorry, I'm sorry, experimenting with liquids in outer space, 643 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 1: you know that those liquids tend to form little wobbly 644 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,719 Speaker 1: globes and float around their environment. You don't have gravity, 645 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,600 Speaker 1: or really you don't have sufficient gravity to have them 646 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,359 Speaker 1: form into drop shapes and fall to the ground. And 647 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,280 Speaker 1: yet sky Lab had a shower aboard, a true luxury 648 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,840 Speaker 1: when compared against earlier US spacecraft like the Apollo and 649 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:12,879 Speaker 1: Jimini capsules, which reportedly could get really stinky, particularly as 650 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:16,439 Speaker 1: missions stretched beyond a week in length. All right, so 651 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:21,360 Speaker 1: imagine that you've got a round shower curtain and it's 652 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,960 Speaker 1: on quote unquote the floor. The top of the shower 653 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,120 Speaker 1: curtain is connected to a metal ring. So really you 654 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,880 Speaker 1: see a metal ring and some material folded beneath it. 655 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:32,359 Speaker 1: So you step into the middle of this metal ring. 656 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: Then you squat down, you grab the ring, and you 657 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:37,879 Speaker 1: lift it all the way up to the ceiling where 658 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,600 Speaker 1: it locks in place, and you essentially create your own 659 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:44,239 Speaker 1: little shower cylinder. Now, okay, how do you do that? 660 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,560 Speaker 1: Because of micro gravity because you're gonna be floating around everywhere. Well, 661 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:51,000 Speaker 1: the on the floor of the station, which is weird 662 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:52,920 Speaker 1: to think of, because I mean up and down are 663 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,360 Speaker 1: such weird concepts when you're talking about space. But on 664 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,080 Speaker 1: the floor were a pair of bands where you would 665 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 1: just kind of slip your feet in a little restraints 666 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,320 Speaker 1: to hold you down against the floor of the station 667 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: so you don't float off with the SuDS. The shower 668 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 1: itself was a handheld nozzle attached to a hose and 669 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 1: you would put heated water which was taken from the 670 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: waste management compartment water heater. However, it was not I 671 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:21,160 Speaker 1: should point out the actual wastewater that'd be gross, uh, 672 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:23,759 Speaker 1: and it served as the bathing liquid, or at least 673 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:26,880 Speaker 1: the heated liquid. This water in a canister would get 674 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,120 Speaker 1: a pressurization boost from some nitrogen gas. So now you 675 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,120 Speaker 1: have some pressurized water in this canister, and then you 676 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,920 Speaker 1: would connect it to the shower mechanism, so the pressurized 677 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,680 Speaker 1: gas that had enough of the pressure to propel the 678 00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 1: water out of the nozzle. When you had the switch 679 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: on the nozzle set to open a soap dispenser with 680 00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:48,359 Speaker 1: eight whole milli liters of soap in it would serve 681 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: for each shower, and uh it had velcrow on it 682 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:54,880 Speaker 1: so you could attach it to the quote unquote ceiling 683 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,320 Speaker 1: of the shower. So you also couldn't just use a 684 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:00,520 Speaker 1: drain for the shower, right because the water is not 685 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:04,479 Speaker 1: just gonna flow down to the floor. So to take 686 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:08,320 Speaker 1: care of the water, you also had a suction device. 687 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:11,520 Speaker 1: You were using essentially a vacuum to collect the water 688 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:15,560 Speaker 1: because the water wouldn't, you know, drain out otherwise, So 689 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,359 Speaker 1: astronauts would use a vacuum to remove water both from 690 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: the shower and off of themselves as well. According to 691 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 1: Jack Loosma, the experience was not necessarily relaxing. You had 692 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: to mix water in a three quart container and make 693 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:31,640 Speaker 1: sure you've got the right mix of hot to cold 694 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:35,720 Speaker 1: so that you would have a comfortable shower temperature. The soap, 695 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,919 Speaker 1: he said, often left the astronauts feeling itchy. He said 696 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,520 Speaker 1: that it was better served as a veterinarian soap as 697 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,160 Speaker 1: opposed it for humans. Um He also said that the 698 00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:47,799 Speaker 1: water would evaporate off of your skin very quickly because 699 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,719 Speaker 1: you're in a low pressure environment, and that that that 700 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: you would start to get really cold. Because that evaporating 701 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,400 Speaker 1: process would pull energy away from you, heat energy, so 702 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,480 Speaker 1: you'd start to get the chills after a shower. Also, 703 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:02,760 Speaker 1: drying off took a really long time, so long in fact, 704 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,960 Speaker 1: that some astronauts opted for using a sponge bath rather 705 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,279 Speaker 1: than using the shower, though they could take as many 706 00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:13,040 Speaker 1: showers as like one every week or ten days if 707 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:16,319 Speaker 1: they so chose. Now, according to the astronauts, it took 708 00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:20,239 Speaker 1: about an hour to take a shower. Some accounts I've 709 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:22,359 Speaker 1: seen suggest it might have even taken longer than that 710 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,839 Speaker 1: when you factor in all the different prep work and 711 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,880 Speaker 1: clean up work needed to do the whole process, And 712 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,080 Speaker 1: in fact, some of the estimations I saw said it 713 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,200 Speaker 1: was closer to two hours. That's not two hours of 714 00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:38,520 Speaker 1: you taking a really long, luxurious shower, that's rather two 715 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 1: hours come to complete the entire task from you know, 716 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,360 Speaker 1: prep to clean up. And that's another reason that a 717 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,800 Speaker 1: lot of astronauts chose to go with sponge baths instead, 718 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,040 Speaker 1: because they felt it was a hassle. NASA eventually concluded 719 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,640 Speaker 1: that the shower was ultimately perhaps a little too complicated 720 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,360 Speaker 1: to operate, and if astronauts weren't going to use it, 721 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:57,680 Speaker 1: there might be better ways to make sure folks don't 722 00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:00,080 Speaker 1: stink up the joint rather than incorporating a piece a 723 00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:03,239 Speaker 1: gear that people would avoid using anyway, kind of like 724 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,880 Speaker 1: a stinky sullen teenager. And oh, I also need to 725 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 1: talk about the toilet. So we talked a bit about 726 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:14,360 Speaker 1: how awkward pooping in space was for the Apollo cruise, 727 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,280 Speaker 1: and you know they had to use you know, essentially 728 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:20,000 Speaker 1: a bag with adhesive on it to glue to their 729 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:23,520 Speaker 1: butts in order to collect their poops. Well, the sky 730 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:28,120 Speaker 1: Lab version was better, I guess. Sky Labs toilet was 731 00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:31,440 Speaker 1: mounted on the wall of the bathroom inside the space station. 732 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,080 Speaker 1: The toilet had a hinged seat on it. Inside the 733 00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:37,400 Speaker 1: toilet was a mesh bag, So if you need to poop, 734 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:41,120 Speaker 1: you would first put a fecal collection bag inside this 735 00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:45,480 Speaker 1: mesh liner. Um. Then uh okay, well let me just 736 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:48,040 Speaker 1: read from NASA to make sure I get this right. 737 00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 1: Here we go quote. Air was drawn through the fecal 738 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:54,680 Speaker 1: bag from holes in the seat and exhausted through the 739 00:44:54,719 --> 00:44:58,880 Speaker 1: bags vapor port through the mesh liner into the fecal 740 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:02,680 Speaker 1: collection recept icle, and then through a filter where odors 741 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,799 Speaker 1: were removed before it was recirculated into the cabin by 742 00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:09,520 Speaker 1: a fan. To use the toilet for defecation, the crewman 743 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:14,320 Speaker 1: sat on the contoured seat, then fastened a belt across 744 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,920 Speaker 1: his lap to hold him securely in position. Hand Holds 745 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 1: and foot restraints allowed him to maintain a sufficiently tight 746 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 1: seal on the seat, as airflow from the fans separated 747 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 1: the fecal matter from his body and deposited it in 748 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: the fecal collection bag. A separate fecal bag was used 749 00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:36,279 Speaker 1: for each defecation end quote, which thank goodness for that right. 750 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:40,800 Speaker 1: As for urination, well, again to quote from NASA quote, 751 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:45,040 Speaker 1: the crewmen could urinate from either a standing or sitting position. 752 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,680 Speaker 1: A urine collector, located on the wall just below the 753 00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:53,120 Speaker 1: fecal collector, also utilized airflow as a substitute for gravity 754 00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:56,520 Speaker 1: to draw the urine through a receiver and hose into 755 00:45:56,520 --> 00:46:00,560 Speaker 1: a urine collection bag. An alternate device incorporated a funnel 756 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:04,160 Speaker 1: like attachment through which the bag could be filled by 757 00:46:04,239 --> 00:46:08,040 Speaker 1: bladder pressure. So I suppose by the way end quote, 758 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:10,279 Speaker 1: I suppose it's good to remind ourselves that around this 759 00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:14,080 Speaker 1: time all astronauts were male. Not that I'm saying that 760 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:16,480 Speaker 1: was a good thing, only that it was a true 761 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:20,240 Speaker 1: thing at that time. Because many of the experiments aboard 762 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:24,320 Speaker 1: Skylab related to medical studies, like the effects of microgravity 763 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 1: and being in space for prolonged periods, much of that 764 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,480 Speaker 1: waste was meant to be returned to Earth for examination. 765 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:34,040 Speaker 1: So these bags would be vacuum dried and stored for 766 00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:38,800 Speaker 1: return to Earth. That included feces and, according to NASA, 767 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,319 Speaker 1: vomit because motion, sickness, and nausea were a thing up 768 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:46,360 Speaker 1: there too, so space sure is glamorous. As for the 769 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,600 Speaker 1: urine that went into a centrifuge to separate the gases 770 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:53,040 Speaker 1: inside the liquid from the liquid itself, then the liquid 771 00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:55,879 Speaker 1: sample would be frozen for storage and to prevent any 772 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:58,840 Speaker 1: chemical changes that might occur otherwise in order to be 773 00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,880 Speaker 1: returned to Earth. None, not all of it was stored 774 00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:06,759 Speaker 1: and saved for for examination, some of it was some 775 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:09,880 Speaker 1: of it actually would go into a waste containment system 776 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,879 Speaker 1: aboard the space station. So I just want to make 777 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:15,759 Speaker 1: it clear that the astronauts weren't bringing all of their 778 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:19,960 Speaker 1: poops and peas back home, just you know, some of them. 779 00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:23,759 Speaker 1: Oh and some other fun and less disgusting anecdotes during 780 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 1: the Gemini missions, astronauts typically didn't really complain about the 781 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,600 Speaker 1: space food that NASA packed for them, but in the 782 00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:34,680 Speaker 1: Apollo missions that changed astronauts really hated it, and so 783 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,120 Speaker 1: there was an effort put forward to make the food 784 00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:40,920 Speaker 1: aboard sky Lab more palatable because astronauts were going to 785 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,080 Speaker 1: be up there for much longer, and NASA wisely judged 786 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:46,520 Speaker 1: that the food was bad. It was going to have 787 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:50,440 Speaker 1: a negative impact on crew morale and thus potentially a 788 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:54,319 Speaker 1: negative impact on productivity, so they worked pretty hard to 789 00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,719 Speaker 1: try and fix that while also making sure to meet 790 00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:59,880 Speaker 1: the nutritional needs of the astronauts. Now, some of that 791 00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:03,680 Speaker 1: food that was sent aboard Skylab in that initial launch 792 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,200 Speaker 1: was deemed to be dangerous by the time the first 793 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:10,799 Speaker 1: crew got to Skylab because remember that that laboratory had 794 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:14,240 Speaker 1: been exposed to very high temperatures because the heat shield 795 00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 1: had failed to deploy because it was stripped away in launch. 796 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,200 Speaker 1: So the stuff that was in cans had been heated 797 00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:22,840 Speaker 1: to a point where it could potentially be dangerous, so 798 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:24,839 Speaker 1: that could no longer be consumed. But there was other 799 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:27,759 Speaker 1: stuff that was frozen and it was unaffected because it 800 00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:30,680 Speaker 1: was protected in a freezer. And there are other types 801 00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:33,400 Speaker 1: of space food that were also fine, so not everything 802 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:37,879 Speaker 1: was wasted. Also because Skylab used air flow to substitute 803 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,840 Speaker 1: for gravity, so you you know, used the flow of 804 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:43,440 Speaker 1: air like you had had vents that were suctioning up 805 00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:46,000 Speaker 1: air and other events that were blowing out air. While 806 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,560 Speaker 1: astronauts found that stuff had a tendency to kind of 807 00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:52,400 Speaker 1: migrate towards the air filters where the system was siphoning 808 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:56,360 Speaker 1: up air to recycle it. Uh So, if something got lost, 809 00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:58,600 Speaker 1: they would just look around the air filters because typically 810 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:01,120 Speaker 1: that's where stuff was because that flow of air was 811 00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:05,400 Speaker 1: pulling things toward it. So they actually made one surface 812 00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:08,520 Speaker 1: that had one of these filters a workspace because the 813 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:11,359 Speaker 1: tools would tend to stay put on the filter rather 814 00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:13,759 Speaker 1: than just float off, which is kind of interesting. It's 815 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:16,920 Speaker 1: something you don't necessarily think about when you're not in microgravity. 816 00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:21,480 Speaker 1: Generally speaking, sky Lab wasn't just an efficient science platform, 817 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:24,359 Speaker 1: nor was it just a space station that was up 818 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:27,120 Speaker 1: in orbit for way longer than we could actually use it. 819 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:29,080 Speaker 1: I mean, when you think about it, it was up 820 00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:31,120 Speaker 1: there for several years, but we only used it for 821 00:49:31,239 --> 00:49:33,800 Speaker 1: less than a year. But it was also a learning 822 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:36,200 Speaker 1: experience for NASA and would go a long way toward 823 00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,680 Speaker 1: informing the agency about designing the next big space station. 824 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:42,799 Speaker 1: We'll talk more about that in our next episode. So 825 00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:45,799 Speaker 1: things to look forward to. In our next episode, We're 826 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:48,799 Speaker 1: going to talk about the Russian space station mirror. That's 827 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:52,400 Speaker 1: very important. We're gonna talk about the proposal of space 828 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:56,440 Speaker 1: station freedom, the US space station that never was, and 829 00:49:56,680 --> 00:50:00,080 Speaker 1: the birth of the International Space Station and how it 830 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:07,319 Speaker 1: has a halter of the time. Text Stuff is an 831 00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:11,040 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 832 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:14,520 Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 833 00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:16,120 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.