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77-472: Important advances in the F5 included: Like all previous Nikon F series cameras, the F5 maintained a manual film rewind (with a rapid power rewind built in), high durability, exceptionally short shutter lag, interchangeable 100% coverage viewfinders (including a large-view Action Finder, Waist-Level Finder, and 6x High-Magnification Finder, in addition to the stock DP-30 multi-metering pentaprism), and support for

154-420: A Gemini capsule on a Titan II-C , the latter being much less expensive in the case where cargo was not needed. Proposals ranged from an Apollo-based station with two to three men, or a small "canister" for four men with Gemini capsules resupplying it, to a large, rotating station with 24 men and an operating lifetime of about five years. A proposal to study the use of a Saturn S-IVB as a crewed space laboratory

231-441: A dart set , playing cards , and other recreational equipment in addition to books and music players, the window with its view of Earth became the most popular way to relax in orbit. Prior to departure about 80 experiments were named, although they are also described as "almost 300 separate investigations". Experiments were divided into six broad categories: Because the solar scientific airlock – one of two research airlocks –

308-451: A " wet workshop " concept, because of the conversion of an active fuel tank. The station filled the entire interior of the S-II stage's hydrogen tank, with the equipment section forming a "spine" and living quarters located between it and the walls of the booster. This would have resulted in a very large 33 by 45 feet (10 by 14 m) living area. Power was to be provided by solar cells lining

385-470: A Saturn IB rocket from Launch Pad 39B. Skylab 1 was the last uncrewed launch from LC-39A until February 19, 2017, when SpaceX CRS-10 was launched from there. Three crewed missions, designated Skylab 2 , Skylab 3 , and Skylab 4 , were made to Skylab in the Apollo command and service modules . The first crewed mission, Skylab 2, launched on May 25, 1973, atop a Saturn IB and involved extensive repairs to

462-510: A custom-made Kodak digital back. The digital back extended beneath the camera to house the battery and a pair of PCMCIA card slots. The Kodak DCS 600 series was launched in 1999, and initially consisted of the 2 megapixel Kodak DCS 620 and the 6 megapixel DCS 660, which had an initial launch price of $ 29,995. The DCS 600 series was continued in 2000 with the Kodak DCS 620x, a high-sensitivity model with an upgraded indium tin oxide sensor and

539-833: A cyan-magenta-yellow Bayer filter , which had a then-unique top ISO setting of ISO 6400. Kodak replaced the 600 series with the upgraded DCS 700 series in 2001, which consisted of the high-sensitivity DCS 720x and the 6 megapixel DCS 760. By 2001 Kodak faced competition from the popular Nikon D1 and Nikon D1x, which were physically smaller and cheaper. The DCS 760's initial list price was $ 8,000. [REDACTED] Media related to Nikon F5 at Wikimedia Commons Nikkorex F / Nikkor J Autofocus Camera | APS-format | Nikkorex with Leaf Shutter | Nikomat/Nikkormat | All Other Cameras | Manual Focus with electronic features (A mode) See also: Nikon DSLR cameras Nikon F The Nikon F camera , introduced in April 1959,

616-420: A large, circular station 250 feet (75 m) in diameter that would rotate to generate artificial gravity and require a fleet of 7,000 short tons (6,400 metric tons) space shuttles for construction in orbit. The 80 men aboard the station would include astronomers operating a telescope, meteorologists to forecast the weather, and soldiers to conduct surveillance. Von Braun expected that future expeditions to

693-527: A larger viewable area through which one could see the entire frame while wearing goggles and/or a helmet. Selection of G1/G2/G3/G4 and H1/H2/H3/H4 should be determined by the specific lens being used, but the following general observations can be made: Nikkorex F / Nikkor J Autofocus Camera | APS-format | Nikkorex with Leaf Shutter | Nikomat/Nikkormat | All Other Cameras | Manual Focus with electronic features (A mode) See also: Nikon DSLR cameras Skylab Skylab

770-648: A mission mode that would not need in-orbit assembly. A smaller station that a single rocket could launch retained value, however, for scientific purposes. In 1959, von Braun, head of the Development Operations Division at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency , submitted his final Project Horizon plans to the U.S. Army . The overall goal of Horizon was to place men on the Moon, a mission that would soon be taken over by

847-585: A private area the size of a small walk-in closet , with a curtain, sleeping bag, and locker. Designers also added a shower and a toilet for comfort and to obtain precise urine and feces samples for examination on Earth. The waste samples were so important that they would have been priorities in any rescue mission . Skylab did not have recycling systems such as the conversion of urine to drinking water; it also did not dispose of waste by dumping it into space. The S-IVB's 73,280 liters (16,120 imp gal; 19,360 U.S. gal) liquid oxygen tank below

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924-762: A result of a NASA contest. The actual stage that flew was the upper stage of the AS-212 rocket (the S-IVB stage, S-IVB 212). The mission computer used aboard Skylab was the IBM System/4Pi TC-1, a relative of the AP-101 Space Shuttle computers. The Saturn V with serial number SA-513, originally produced for the Apollo program – before the cancellation of Apollo 18, 19, and 20 – was repurposed and redesigned to launch Skylab. The Saturn V's third stage

1001-557: A shower once a week, but found drying themselves in weightlessness and vacuuming excess water difficult; later crews usually cleaned themselves daily with wet washcloths instead of using the shower. Astronauts also found that bending over in weightlessness to put on socks or tie shoelaces strained their abdominal muscles. Breakfast began at 7 a.m. Astronauts usually stood to eat, as sitting in microgravity also strained their abdominal muscles. They reported that their food – although greatly improved from Apollo –

1078-496: A special DP-30 metering prism with its historic "Nikon" font. On the reverse is found the original Nippon Kogaku trademark logo and a stylized "50" beneath it. Approximately 3000 were made for the global market. They were quickly snatched up around the world by collectors who saw the F5 as the last of the true professional grade film SLRs by Nikon. It was discontinued in 2004 as it was facing tough competition from its competitors. During

1155-500: A system that help detect and control the orientation of the station in space. Other sensors that helped with this were a Sun tracker and a star tracker . The sensors fed data to the main computer, which could then use the control gyroscopes and or the thruster system to keep Skylab pointed as desired. Skylab had a zero-gravity shower system in the work and experiment section of the Orbital Workshop designed and built at

1232-542: A two-person crew. The station was the same diameter as a Titan II upper stage , and would be launched with the crew riding atop in a modified Gemini capsule with a hatch cut into the heat shield on the bottom of the capsule. MOL competed for funding with a NASA station for the next five years and politicians and other officials often suggested that NASA participate in MOL or use the DoD design. The military project led to changes to

1309-697: A variety of LM or CSM-based hardware. Although it did not look at the space station specifically, over the next two years the office would become increasingly dedicated to this role. In August 1965, the office was renamed, becoming the Apollo Applications Program (AAP). As part of their general work, in August 1964 the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) presented studies on an expendable lab known as Apollo X , short for Apollo Extension System . Apollo X would have replaced

1386-467: A wide range of Nikon F-mount lenses. In common with the F3 and F4 it relied upon battery power in order to function, either from eight AA batteries or an optional rechargeable NiMH battery pack. Variants: Nikon introduced a very limited production anniversary edition of the F5 to celebrate 50 years of Nippon Kogaku (Japanese Optical). It featured a titanium colored top plate, grey handgrip (vice red) and

1463-512: A workshop, a solar observatory, and several hundred life science and physical science experiments. It was launched uncrewed into low Earth orbit by a Saturn V rocket modified to be similar to the Saturn INT-21 , with the S-IVB third stage not available for propulsion because the orbital workshop was built out of it. This was the final flight for the rocket more commonly known for carrying

1540-602: The Apollo Logistic Support System Office , originally intended to study various ways to modify the Apollo hardware for scientific missions. The office initially proposed a number of projects for direct scientific study, including an extended-stay lunar mission which required two Saturn V launchers, a "lunar truck" based on the Lunar Module (LM), a large, crewed solar telescope using an LM as its crew quarters, and small space stations using

1617-655: The Indian Ocean and Western Australia . As of 2024, Skylab was the only space station operated exclusively by the United States. A permanent station was planned starting in 1988, but its funding was canceled and U.S. participation shifted to the International Space Station in 1993. Skylab had a mass of 199,750 pounds (90,610 kg) with a 31,000-pound (14,000 kg) Apollo command and service module (CSM) attached and included

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1694-492: The Manned Spaceflight Center . It had a cylindrical curtain that went from floor to ceiling and a vacuum system to suck away water. The floor of the shower had foot restraints. To bathe, the user coupled a pressurized bottle of warmed water to the shower's plumbing, then stepped inside and secured the curtain. A push-button shower nozzle was connected by a stiff hose to the top of the shower. The system

1771-529: The Moon and Mars would leave from the station. The development of the transistor , the solar cell , and telemetry , led in the 1950s and early 1960s to uncrewed satellites that could take photographs of weather patterns or enemy nuclear weapons and send them to Earth. A large station was no longer necessary for such purposes, and the United States Apollo program to send men to the Moon chose

1848-690: The Multiple Docking Adapter , mainly because the structure could not carry enough weight for a single larger film vault. The orbital workshop could handle a single larger safe, which is also more efficient for shielding. A later example of a radiation vault is the Juno Radiation Vault for the Juno Jupiter orbiter, launched in 2011, which was designed to protect much of the uncrewed spacecraft's electronics, using 1 cm thick walls of titanium . The large vault in

1925-517: The S-II second stage of a Saturn V. His design replaced the S-IVB third stage with an aeroshell, primarily as an adapter for the CSM on top. Inside the shell was a 10 feet (3.0 m) cylindrical equipment section. On reaching orbit, the S-II second stage would be vented to remove any remaining hydrogen fuel, then the equipment section would be slid into it via a large inspection hatch. This became known as

2002-597: The AAP program. Although this would have allowed them to develop von Braun's original S-II-based mission, by this time so much work had been done on the S-IV-based design that work continued on this baseline. With the extra power available, the wet workshop was no longer needed; the S-IC and S-II lower stages could launch a "dry workshop", with its interior already prepared, directly into orbit. A dry workshop simplified plans for

2079-477: The Apollo Telescope Mount, and to resist various forces that can change the station's orientation. Some of the forces acting on Skylab that the pointing system needed to resist: The Skylab-A attitude and pointing control system has been developed to meet the high accuracy requirements established by the desired experiment conditions. Conditions must be maintained by the control system under

2156-462: The LM carried on the top of the S-IVB stage with a small space station slightly larger than the CSM's service area, containing supplies and experiments for missions between 15 and 45 days' duration. Using this study as a baseline, a number of different mission profiles were looked at over the next six months. In November 1964, von Braun proposed a more ambitious plan to build a much larger station built from

2233-593: The NASA plans so that they would resemble MOL less. NASA management was concerned about losing the 400,000 workers involved in Apollo after landing on the Moon in 1969. A reason von Braun, head of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center during the 1960s, advocated a smaller station after his large one was not built was that he wished to provide his employees with work beyond developing the Saturn rockets, which would be completed relatively early during Project Apollo. NASA set up

2310-495: The Nikon F successful. It had interchangeable prisms and focusing screens; the camera had a depth-of-field preview button; the mirror had lock-up capability; it had a large bayonet mount and a large lens release button; a single-stroke ratcheted film advance lever; a titanium -foil focal plane shutter; various types of flash synchronization; a rapid rewind lever; a fully removable back. It was well-made, durable, and adhered closely to

2387-741: The Orbital Work Shop was used to store trash and wastewater, passed through an airlock . On August 8, 1969, the McDonnell Douglas Corporation received a contract for the conversion of two existing S-IVB stages to the Orbital Workshop configuration. One of the S-IV test stages was shipped to McDonnell Douglas for the construction of a mock-up in January 1970. The Orbital Workshop was renamed "Skylab" in February 1970 as

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2464-474: The Orbital Workshop would be launched as a part of Apollo mission AS-209, originally one of the Earth-orbit CSM test launches, followed by two Saturn I/CSM crew launches, AAP-1 and AAP-2. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) remained AAP's chief competitor for funds, although the two programs cooperated on technology. NASA considered flying experiments on MOL or using its Titan IIIC booster instead of

2541-583: The Photomic T (superseded by the Photomic Tn), which featured through-the-lens (TTL) metering. The final metering prism for the Nikon F, the Photomic FTn, introduced in 1968, provided 60% center-weighted TTL, which became the standard metering pattern for Nikon cameras for decades afterwards. Additional viewfinders included a waist-level viewer, a 6 power magnifying finder, and an "action finder" with

2618-408: The S-IV stage, before it was replaced by the S-IVB. On April 1, 1966, MSC sent out contracts to Douglas, Grumman , and McDonnell for the conversion of an S-IVB spent stage, under the name Saturn S-IVB spent-stage experiment support module (SSESM). In May 1966, astronauts voiced concerns over the purging of the stage's hydrogen tank in space. Nevertheless, in late July 1966, it was announced that

2695-630: The Skylab digital computer. Two of three were active and their input was averaged, while the third was a backup. From NASA SP-400 Skylab, Our First Space Station , "each Skylab control-moment gyroscope consisted of a motor-driven rotor, electronics assembly, and power inverter assembly. The 21-inch-diameter (530 mm) rotor weighed 155 pounds (70 kg) and rotated at approximately 8950 revolutions per minute". There were three control moment gyroscopes on Skylab, but only two were required to maintain pointing. The control and sensor gyroscopes were part of

2772-509: The Skylab missions would last for months. NASA sent a scientist on Jacques Piccard 's Ben Franklin submarine in the Gulf Stream in July and August 1969 to learn how six people would live in an enclosed space for four weeks. Astronauts were uninterested in watching movies on a proposed entertainment center or in playing games, but they did want books and individual music choices. Food

2849-713: The Soviet Soyuz 11 crew aboard the space station Salyut 1 on June 30, 1971. Skylab 2 lasted 28 days, Skylab 3 – 56 days, and Skylab 4 – 84 days. Astronauts performed ten spacewalks, totaling 42 hours and 16 minutes. Skylab logged about 2,000 hours of scientific and medical experiments, 127,000 frames of film of the Sun and 46,000 of Earth. Solar experiments included photographs of eight solar flares and produced valuable results that scientists stated would have been impossible to obtain with uncrewed spacecraft. The existence of

2926-516: The Sun's coronal holes was confirmed because of these efforts. Many of the experiments conducted investigated the astronauts' adaptation to extended periods of microgravity . A typical day began at 6 a.m. Central Time Zone . Although the toilet was small and noisy, both veteran astronauts – who had endured earlier missions' rudimentary waste-collection systems – and rookies complimented it. The first crew enjoyed taking

3003-756: The agency announced that the lunar mapping and base construction missions examined by the AAP were being canceled. Only the Earth-orbiting missions remained, namely the Orbital Workshop and Apollo Telescope Mount solar observatory . The success of Apollo 8 in December 1968, launched on the third flight of a Saturn V, made it likely that one would be available to launch a dry workshop. Later, several Moon missions were canceled as well, originally to be Apollo missions 18 through 20 . The cancellation of these missions freed up three Saturn V boosters for

3080-470: The birth of X-ray astronomy . Skylab had certain features to protect vulnerable technology from radiation . The window was vulnerable to darkening, and this darkening could affect experiment S190. As a result, a light shield that could be open or shut was designed and installed on Skylab. To protect a wide variety of films, used for a variety of experiments and for astronaut photography , there were five film vaults. There were four smaller film vaults in

3157-628: The camera to adapt to almost any task. The F36 motor drive, one of the first popular motor drives for SLR cameras, was capable of firing up to 4 frames per second with the mirror locked up or 3 frames per second with full reflex viewing maintained. The Nikon F had a wide range of lenses, covering 21 mm to 1000 mm focal length by 1962. Nikon was among the first companies to manufacture Catadioptric system lens designs, combining mirrors and lenses to make more-compact lenses with longer focal lengths. The first Nikon F Photomic viewfinder, delivered since 1962, had an independent photocell. Then Nikon introduced

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3234-618: The crewed Apollo Moon landing missions. Three subsequent missions delivered three-astronaut crews in the Apollo CSM launched by the smaller Saturn IB rocket. Skylab included the Apollo Telescope Mount (a multi-spectral solar observatory), a multiple docking adapter with two docking ports, an airlock module with extravehicular activity (EVA) hatches, and the orbital workshop, the main habitable space inside Skylab. Electrical power came from solar arrays and fuel cells in

3311-405: The docked Apollo CSM. The rear of the station included a large waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets, and a heat radiator. Astronauts conducted numerous experiments aboard Skylab during its operational life. For the final two crewed missions to Skylab, NASA assembled a backup Apollo CSM/Saturn IB in case an in-orbit rescue mission was needed, but this vehicle was never flown. The station

3388-470: The environment and established comfortable working relationships with ground control. The figure (below) lists an overview of most major experiments. Skylab 4 carried out several more experiments, such as to observe Comet Kohoutek . Riccardo Giacconi shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for his study of X-ray astronomy , including the study of emissions from the Sun onboard Skylab, contributing to

3465-404: The heaviest items that had to be returned at the end of each mission. The heaviest canisters weighed 40 kg and could hold up to 16,000 frames of film. There were two types of gyroscopes on Skylab. Control-moment gyroscopes (CMG) could physically move the station, and rate gyroscopes measured the rate of rotation to find its orientation. The CMG helped provide the fine pointing needed by

3542-521: The idea of building a smaller "wet workshop" based on the S-IVB, launched as the second stage of a Saturn IB. A number of S-IVB-based stations were studied at MSC from mid-1965, which had much in common with the Skylab design that eventually flew. An airlock would be attached to the hydrogen tank, in the area designed to hold the LM , and a minimum amount of equipment would be installed in the tank itself in order to avoid taking up too much fuel volume. Floors of

3619-546: The influence of external and internal disturbance torques, such as gravity gradient and aerodynamic disturbances and onboard astronaut motion. Skylab was the first large spacecraft to use big gyroscopes, capable of controlling its attitude. The control could also be used to help point the instruments. The gyroscopes took about ten hours to get spun up if they were turned off. There was also a thruster system to control Skylab's attitude. There were 9 rate-gyroscope sensors, 3 for each axis. These were sensors that fed their output to

3696-472: The interior of the station. Industrial design firm Raymond Loewy /William Snaith recommended emphasizing habitability and comfort for the astronauts by providing a wardroom for meals and relaxation and a window to view Earth and space, although astronauts were dubious about the designers' focus on details such as color schemes. Habitability had not previously been an area of concern when building spacecraft due to their small size and brief mission durations, but

3773-456: The late 1990s, Nikon and Kodak collaborated on a range of professional digital SLRs which combined Nikon bodies with Kodak digital sensors and electronics. The initial range was based around the semi-professional Nikon F90 , but the later Kodak DCS 600 and DCS 700 models were based on the Nikon F5. On a physical level they consisted of a Nikon F5 with the film transport equipment replaced with

3850-524: The launch dates of July 28, 1973, (Skylab 3) and November 16, 1973, (Skylab 4), and mission durations of 59 and 84 days, respectively. The last Skylab crew returned to Earth on February 8, 1974. In addition to the three crewed missions, there was a rescue mission on standby that had a crew of two, but could take five back down. Also of note was the three-man crew of Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT), who spent 56 days in 1972 at low-pressure on Earth to evaluate medical experiment equipment. This

3927-578: The lost micrometeoroid shield further complicated matters by becoming tangled in the remaining solar panel, preventing its full deployment and thus leaving the station with a huge power deficit. Immediately following Skylab's launch, Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center was deactivated, and construction proceeded to modify it for the Space Shuttle program, originally targeting a maiden launch in March 1979 . The crewed missions to Skylab would occur using

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4004-558: The much more expensive Saturn IB. The agency decided that the Air Force station was not large enough and that converting Apollo hardware for use with Titan would be too slow and too expensive. The DoD later canceled MOL in June 1969. Design work continued over the next two years, in an era of shrinking budgets. (NASA sought US$ 450 million for Apollo Applications in fiscal year 1967, for example, but received US$ 42 million.) In August 1967,

4081-487: The orbital workshop had an empty mass of 2,398 pounds (1,088 kg). The four smaller vaults had combined mass of 1,545 lb (701 kg). The primary construction material of all five safes was aluminum. When Skylab re-entered there was one 180 pounds (82 kg) chunk of aluminum found that was thought to be a door to one of the film vaults. The large film vault was one of the heaviest single pieces of Skylab to re-enter Earth's atmosphere . The Skylab film vault

4158-445: The outside of the S-II stage. One problem with this proposal was that it required a dedicated Saturn V launch to fly the station. At the time the design was being proposed, it was not known how many of the then-contracted Saturn Vs would be required to achieve a successful Moon landing. However, several planned Earth-orbit test missions for the LM and CSM had been canceled, leaving a number of Saturn IBs free for use. Further work led to

4235-492: The photographic market, stealing the thunder of German manufacturers Leica and Zeiss. The F had a reputation for being extremely resilient to damage or mechanical failure, becoming known as "the hockey puck." In some markets, the camera was marketed as a "Nikkor F" due to trademark conflicts. In Germany, "Nikon" was seen as too similar to the Zeiss Ikon camera line. Nikkor F cameras have become collector's items. The Nikon F

4312-420: The rapidly forming NASA. Although concentrating on the Moon missions, von Braun also detailed an orbiting laboratory built out of a Horizon upper stage, an idea used for Skylab. A number of NASA centers studied various space station designs in the early 1960s. Studies generally looked at platforms launched by the Saturn V, followed up by crews launched on Saturn IB using an Apollo command and service module , or

4389-461: The risk of debris landing in populated areas, targeting the south Indian Ocean, which was partially successful. Debris showered Western Australia , and recovered pieces indicated that the station had disintegrated lower than expected. As the Skylab program drew to a close, NASA's focus had shifted to the development of the Space Shuttle. NASA space station and laboratory projects included Spacelab , Shuttle- Mir , and Space Station Freedom , which

4466-453: The station would be made from an open metal framework that allowed the fuel to flow through it. After launch, a follow-up mission launched by a Saturn IB would launch additional equipment, including solar panels, an equipment section and docking adapter, and various experiments. Douglas Aircraft Company , builder of the S-IVB stage, was asked to prepare proposals along these lines. The company had for several years been proposing stations based on

4543-674: The station. The crew deployed a parasol-like sunshade through a small instrument port from the inside of the station, bringing station temperatures down to acceptable levels and preventing overheating that would have melted the plastic insulation inside the station and released poisonous gases. This solution was designed by Jack Kinzler , who won the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts. The crew conducted further repairs via two spacewalks ( extravehicular activity or EVA). The crew stayed in orbit with Skylab for 28 days. Two additional missions followed, with

4620-584: The successful design scheme of the Nikon rangefinder cameras . The camera was the first to use the F-mount bayonet lens mount system, which is still used as of 2024. Lead designer of the Nikon F was Yusaku Kamekura , the man behind the 1964 Summer Olympics logo. The Nikon F evolved from a rangefinder camera, the Nikon SP . The prototype model, in particular, was an SP with a mirror box, pentaprism and larger lens mount grafted on. The Nikon F revolutionized

4697-469: The water tank. After dinner, which was scheduled for 6 p.m., crews performed household chores and prepared for the next day's experiments. Following lengthy daily instructions (some of which were up to 15 meters long) sent via teleprinter , the crews were often busy enough to postpone sleep. The station offered what a later study called "a highly satisfactory living and working environment for crews", with enough room for personal privacy. Although it had

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4774-574: Was Nikon 's first SLR camera. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although many of the concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it was revolutionary in that it was the first to combine them all in one camera. It was produced until October 1973 and was replaced by the Nikon F2 . Aspects of its design remain in all of Nikon's subsequent SLR cameras, through the current Nikon F6 film and Nikon D6 digital models (which still share its Nikon F-mount for lenses). The "F" in Nikon F

4851-481: Was a spaceflight analog test in full gravity, but Skylab hardware was tested and medical knowledge was gained. Originally intended to be visited by one 28–day and two 56–day missions for a total of 140 days, Skylab was ultimately occupied for 171 days and 13 hours during its three crewed expeditions, orbiting the Earth 2,476 times. Each of these extended the human record of 23 days for amount of time spent in space set by

4928-400: Was also important; early Apollo crews complained about its quality, and a NASA volunteer found it intolerable to live on the Apollo food for four days on Earth. Its taste and composition were unpleasant, in the form of cubes and squeeze tubes. Skylab food significantly improved on its predecessors by prioritizing palatability over scientific needs. For sleeping in space , each astronaut had

5005-408: Was bland and repetitive, and weightlessness caused utensils, food containers, and bits of food to float away; also, gas in their drinking water contributed to flatulence . After breakfast and preparation for lunch, experiments, tests and repairs of spacecraft systems and, if possible, 90 minutes of physical exercise followed; the station had a bicycle and other equipment, and astronauts could jog around

5082-417: Was damaged during launch when the micrometeoroid shield tore away from the workshop, taking one of the main solar panel arrays with it and jamming the other main array. This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power and also removed protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. The first crew deployed a replacement heat shade and freed the jammed solar panels to save Skylab. This

5159-529: Was documented in 1962 by the Douglas Aircraft Company . The Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA cooperated closely in many areas of space. In September 1963, NASA and the DoD agreed to cooperate in building a space station. The DoD wanted its own crewed facility, however, and in December 1963 it announced Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL), a small space station primarily intended for photo reconnaissance using large telescopes directed by

5236-530: Was extended beyond the 23 days set by the Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1 to 84 days by the Skylab 4 crew. Later plans to reuse Skylab were stymied by delays in the development of the Space Shuttle, and Skylab's decaying orbit could not be stopped. Skylab's atmospheric reentry began on July 11, 1979, amid worldwide media attention. Before re-entry, NASA ground controllers tried to adjust Skylab's orbit to minimize

5313-592: Was merged into the International Space Station. Rocket engineer Wernher von Braun , science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke , and other early advocates of crewed space travel, expected until the 1960s that a space station would be an important early step in space exploration. Von Braun participated in the publishing of a series of influential articles in Collier's magazine from 1952 to 1954, titled " Man Will Conquer Space Soon! ". He envisioned

5390-406: Was removed and replaced with Skylab, but with the controlling Instrument Unit remaining in its standard position. Skylab was launched on May 14, 1973, by the modified Saturn V. The launch is sometimes referred to as Skylab 1. Severe damage was sustained during launch and deployment, including the loss of the station's micrometeoroid shield/sun shade and one of its main solar panels . Debris from

5467-463: Was selected from the term "re -f- lex", since the pronunciation of the first letter "R" is not available in many Asian languages. That tradition was carried all the way through their top line of Nikon cameras until the introduction of the Nikon D1 (digital) cameras decades later. Specially modified Nikon F cameras were used in space in the early 1970s aboard the Skylab space station. The Nikon F

5544-891: Was succeeded in 1972 by the Nikon F2 series after a production total of 862,600 bodies. Subsequent "single-digit" F cameras continued as the top of Nikon's professional line of film SLRs, through the Nikon F6 introduced in 2004. Since the introduction of the digital Nikon D1 in 1999, Nikon has continued to reserve single-digit model numbers for top-of-the-line cameras. The F was a modular system camera , with various assemblies such as viewfinders, focusing screens, and motor drives for 36-exposure and 250-exposure film cassettes. Third parties manufactured other film backs, such as two Speed Magny film backs—one using Polaroid 100 (later 600) type pack films, and another designed for 4x5 film accessories including Polaroid's own 4x5 instant film back. Each of these assemblies could be fitted and removed, allowing

5621-452: Was the United States' first space station , launched by NASA , occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2 , Skylab 3 , and Skylab 4 . Operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory , Earth observation and hundreds of experiments . Skylab's orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979, scattering debris across

5698-592: Was the first 35 mm SLR system to be widely adopted by professional photographers, especially photojournalists covering the Vietnam War , as well as for use by NASA astronauts. It was originally priced at US$ 186 with 50 mm f/2 lens; in November 1963 the US price was $ 233 for the body with a standard prism plus $ 90 for a 50 mm f/2 lens or $ 155 for a 50 mm f/1.4. A combination of design elements made

5775-526: Was the first time that a repair of this magnitude was performed in space. The Apollo Telescope significantly advanced solar science, and observation of the Sun was unprecedented. Astronauts took thousands of photographs of Earth, and the Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) viewed Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible , infrared , and microwave spectral regions. The record for human time spent in orbit

5852-480: Was unexpectedly occupied by the "parasol" that replaced the missing meteorite shield, a few experiments were instead installed outside with the telescopes during spacewalks or shifted to the Earth-facing scientific airlock. Skylab 2 spent less time than planned on most experiments due to station repairs. On the other hand, Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 far exceeded the initial experiment plans, once the crews adjusted to

5929-455: Was used for storing film from various sources including the Apollo Telescope Mount solar instruments. Six ATM experiments used film to record data, and over the course of the missions over 150,000 successful exposures were recorded. The film canister had to be manually retrieved on crewed spacewalks to the instruments during the missions. The film canisters were returned to Earth aboard the Apollo capsules when each mission ended, and were among

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