July 23, 2018 - More Records, More Repairs
More Records, More Repairs The second crew to visit Skylab left Earth 45 years ago this week. Astronauts Owen Garriott, Jack Lousma and Alan Bean caught up with the orbiting space station just eight hours after launch. They quickly transferred into Skylab, and after a few days of motion sickness, the crew was able to perform more repairs and maintenance on the space station, which had already been put into habitable shape by the first Skylab crew in May. In the photo above, astronaut Jack Lousma is shown after he and crewmate Owen Garriott deployed a second sun shade to help stabilize the internal temperature of the space station. During their 59 days in space (which set a new record for space endurance), the three astronauts spent a then-record 13 hours and 44 minutes outside the space station.
Image credit: NASA
Weekly Calendar
July 23 - 29, 2018
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 23
1928: Vera Rubin born
1972: Landsat 1 launched
1999: STS-93 Columbia launched, deploys Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Tuesday 24
1950: First rocket launched from Cape Canaveral
1969: Apollo 11 crew returns to Earth
1975: Apollo-Soyuz crew returns to Earth, last US splashdown
2009: Canaries Great Telescope dedicated
Wednesday 25
Saturn 2° south of Moon
Mercury appears stationary
1978: Viking 2 orbiter ceases operation
1984: Svetlana Savitskaya becomes first woman to walk in space
2000: Zvezda Service Module docks with International Space Station
Thursday 26
1958: Explorer IV launched
1971: Apollo 15 launched, fourth lunar landing mission, first mission to use lunar rover
2005: STS-114 Discovery launched
Friday 27
Mars at opposition. Moon at apogee
Full Moon 4:21 PM ET
Lunar Eclipse (visible from Eastern Africa and Central Asia; partially visible from South America, Europe, East Asia)
Saturday 28
Delta Aquarid meteors shower
1851: First photo of total solar eclipse
1964: Ranger 7 lunar probe launched
1973: Skylab 3 crew launched on 59-day mission
2017: Soyuz MS-05 launched carrying ISS Expedition 52/53 crew
Sunday 29
Delta Aquarid meteors shower
1985: STS-51F Challenger launched