Searching for Skylab

[dwight]

Hi one and all,

you know, when I'm not writing/editing books for Apogee (ASTP Mission Reports has just been published), I'm hard at work editing together the interviews I did for Searching for Skylab.

Searching for Skylab is the name of the first ever feature-length film about the forgotten Skylab Spacestation, which launched in May of 1973.

Skylab falls under the shadow of the Apollo lunar missions, and as a result is unfairly judged against them. However, the story of Skylab has it all: drama, excitement, peril, danger, humour and action. After nearly 45 years, it is high time this grand story be told.

We interviewed the engineers who designed, developed and tested Skylab prior to launch.

We interviewed tracking station engineers who made sure NASA never lost track of the spacecraft. They also tell of their horror upon learning that Skylab had near-fatal problems which placed the entire future of NASA into question!

We interviewed the astronauts who flew the missions. They give their insight into the daily life aboard the orbital workshop, and the intense problem solved they were called upon to perform after the workshop was damaged 63 seconds after launch.

Have a look at the teaser here:

and the official Trailer here:

and if you feel like watching me talk at length about what we are doing, I was interviewed by tmro.tv

That is why I have been quiet around here lately.

[Obviousman]

Did you interview people who saw it re-enter (points at self)?

LOL!

Excellent work - can't wait to see the full feature.

[dwight]

I will be doing a remote interview with someone who was in MOCR and recorded the final hour of Skylab's life. We have interviewed the following people:

From Huntsville: Roy Logston, Wille Weavers, John Reaves
From Honeysuckle: Phil Maier, Cyril Fenwick, Hamish Lindsay, John Saxon, Colin Cochran, Bernard Smith, Phil Rutherford.
From Skylab: Joe Kerwin, Paul Weitz, Jack Lousma, Owen Garriott, Ed Gibson, Dr Lubos Kouhoutek
From exclusive rights with GNAT TV, Jerry Carr.
The widow Sylvia and son James of Jack Kinzler (who came up with the idea of the parasol), Paul Weitz's son Mathew and Jack Lousma's wife Gratia and daughter Mary, and Herb Baker, whose Mum was seamstress on the sun shade for Skylab.
From: backup crews: Bruce McCandless and Vance Brand
From history alumni: Glen Nagle, Emily Carney, David Hitt and Andy Chaikin. Plus archive footage which does have truly the claim of being Ultra rare. We went to town on this.

[Geordie]

Lord British (born Richard Garriot,) who made a packet writing (and at first self-marketing in ziploc bags) the Ultima adventure game series for Wozniak's APPLE ][+, of which an important element was space travel, spent the greater part of his fortune to be an early space tourist.

It seems he had always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. As a big fan of Ultima since 1982, I found this to be moving, if not outright romantic.

[dwight]

Richard's mother and Owen's first wife, Helen Garriot, who was part of the SL-3 prank, when she "called" Houston from Skylab, sadly passed away September 5.

[Al Johnston]

Did you interview people who saw it re-enter (points at self)?

LOL!

Excellent work - can't wait to see the full feature.

You're Captain Invincible?!!

[Count Zero]

From Skylab: Joe Kerwin, Paul Weitz, Jack Lousma, Owen Garriott, Ed Gibson, Dr Lubos Kouhoutek

Well, of course Dr. Kouhoutek wasn't on Skylab, but it shows you attention to detail that you're including him.  Iirc, it was the first time a comet had been studied using space-based instruments.

Where's Al Bean?

[Obviousman]

Did you interview people who saw it re-enter (points at self)?

LOL!

Excellent work - can't wait to see the full feature.

You're Captain Invincible?!!

Believe it or not, I really enjoyed that movie.

[Geordie]

Richard's mother and Owen's first wife, Helen Garriot, who was part of the SL-3 prank, when she "called" Houston from Skylab, sadly passed away September 5.

Truly a spacefaring family. I'm sorry to hear about Helen's death. It sounds like she was a fun person to be around.

[Al Johnston]

Did you interview people who saw it re-enter (points at self)?

LOL!

Excellent work - can't wait to see the full feature.

You're Captain Invincible?!!

Believe it or not, I really enjoyed that movie.

With Christopher Lee singing a paean to the joys of alcohol, what's not to like?

[dwight]

Count Zero, unfortunately Al Bean was unavailable due to pressing personal reasons. We may be interviewing him later on, but in case we can't we most definitely have some excellent archive material of him. He will be represented one way or another. If you are concerned about archival material, I have tried to locate unseen or at least rarely seen material, and want to avoid the millionth rehash of Skylab: The First 40 days where possible.

For Pete Conrad and Bill Pogue, there interviews are naturally archival.

[ka9q]

I had the pleasure of traveling and talking with Owen Garriott on a week-long tour of the Grand Canyon and nearby parks about five years ago. He had all sorts of little Apollo/Skylab anecdotes; I hope you got them too.
 

[dwight]

We spoke with Owen for an hour and got alot of good anecdotes.

[Dalhousie]

Searching for Skylab is the name of the first ever feature-length film about the forgotten Skylab Spacestation, which launched in May of 1973.

Forgotten? By whom?  I remember it well.

[Dalhousie]

Hi one and all,

you know, when I'm not writing/editing books for Apogee (ASTP Mission Reports has just been published), I'm hard at work editing together the interviews I did for Searching for Skylab.

I hope you visit Esperance and Balladonia and film the large bits of Skylab sitting in local museums.  Also interview the people who had fragments large and small land on their property!