Skylab Meteroid Shield Anomaly Report

[dwight]

I am just reading through this document and was surprised at the "no holds barred" bollocking the engineering departments who designed the shield got. The investigation following the damage 63 seconds after launch highlights the danger in being complacent when designing elements of launch vehicle components.

Having said that, I was also amazed at the manner in which remedies were sought to get the station operational, and while the cause of the fault was uncovered, the "let's get on with it" vibe the whole report has.

One hell of a good read.

[ka9q]

Yeah, things looked pretty bleak in the first few days. I remember it as it happened.

Pete Conrad used to say he was prouder of his work on the first manned Skylab mission repairing the station than of his trip to the moon.

[dwight]

I can certainly see his point. Had they not rescued Skylab, I shudder to think what would have happened to NASA's budget. An amazing project well under-rated in the shadow of Apollo.

[Allan F]

dwight - do you have a link?

[dwight]

Here you go:

http://de.scribd.com/doc/46577306/NASA-Investigation-Board-Report-on-the-Initial-Flight-Anomalies-of-Skylab-1-May-16-1973

[ka9q]

I loathe Scribd and their ridiculous login requirements, so I managed to download a copy and mirror it here:

http://www.ka9q.net/46577306-NASA-Investigation-Board-Report-on-the-Initial-Flight-Anomalies-of-Skylab-1-May-16-1973.pdf

On the NTRS I also found a shorter summary of the same report:

http://www.ka9q.net/19930015503.pdf

[Allan F]

Thank you. I'll read it later, when I'm off work.