Roy's Postcards: 1986/11/15

Inscription:

Leonard and I went to the Air & Space Museum today while Frances went to the art museum. We walked through the Skylab.

Postcard back:

The gold-covered Skylab Orbital Workshop was the backup for the 1973-1974 Skylab project. Three crews of astronauts lived and worked in Skylab. The longest mission was almost 3 months.

Electrical energy is provided by 140,000 solar cells in the wing attached to the side. Below is the multiple docking adapter through which the crews entered the spacecraft.

© Smithsonian institution, 1981.
Photograph by Dane A. Penland

Leonard's comments:

No wonder Skylab was so expensive--it was gold plated! Skylab is still in this spot and you can still walk through it, but I think they've got one of the Hubble's solar collectors in the space behind, instead of whatever solar panels were in this picture.

See also: space smithsonian

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