Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma Did Second EVA Aug. 24, 1973, at Skylab

Summary: Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma did their second EVA Aug. 24, 1973, at Skylab during the Skylab 3 mission, the space station's second manned mission.

Skylab 3 scientist-pilot Owen Garriott, atop Skylab’s Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), removes a film magazine (white box) from one of the space station cluster’s eight solar telescopes; the procedure occurred while Skylab was at a height of 435 kilometers (270.296 miles) above Earth’s surface and orbiting at a speed of 29,000 kilometers per hour (18,019.765 miles per hour); NASA ID 7047445: Public Domain, via NASA Images

Skylabbers Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma did their second EVA Aug. 24, 1973, at the Skylab space station during the Skylab 3 mission, NASA’s second manned mission to the first United States space station.

The Skylab 3 mission’s second extravehicular activity (EVA), known popularly as spacewalk, marked the second career spacewalk for Owen Garriott (Nov. 22, 1930-April 15, 2019), the mission’s scientist-pilot, and Jack Lousma (born Feb. 29, 1936), the mission’s pilot. The duo’s first career spacewalk had occurred earlier in the month, on Monday, Aug. 6, as the Skylab 3 mission’s first EVA.

Garriott and Lousma’s second EVA began Friday, Aug. 24, at 16:24 Coordinated Universal Time (12:24 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Skylab 3 mission’s EVA 2 ended Friday, Aug. 24, at 20:55 UTC (4:55 p.m. EDT). Their second spacewalk’s timespan of 4 hours 31 minutes lasted two hours than their first spacewalk’s duration of 6 hours 31 minutes.

Garriott and Lousma’s second spacewalk repeated their first spacewalk’s task of replacing the Apollo Telescope Mount’s film canisters. The Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) served as the Skylab space station cluster’s solar observatory. American astronomer John Allen “Jack” Eddy (March 25, 1931-June 10, 2009) noted in A New Sun: The Solar Results From Skylab, published by NASA in 1979 that the ATM “. . . had vast capabilities for recording and storing solar data, made possible, chiefly, through the use of photographic film” (page 47).

Retrieval and replacement of the film required a spacewalk to the Apollo Telescope Mount, which was attached to Skylab’s Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) and Airlock Module (AM). Skylab’s spacewalkers used “. . . film magazines especially designed for this unorthodox loading and unloading procedure” (page 48). One astronaut removed the film magazine for transport by a long boom to the second astronaut who waited at the airlock door below.

Garriott and Lousma’s second EVA also focused on gyroscope cable installation. Included in mission paraphernalia brought to Skylab by the Skylab 3 crew were a “six pack” of rate gyroscopes and cables. Skylab Program Manager Leland Forrest Belew (Feb. 25, 1925-June 6, 2008) noted, in Skylab, Our First Space Station, published by NASA in 1977, the urgency of repairs because “. . . the rate gyroscopes aboard Skylab were degrading rapidly . . .” (page 100).

Skylab Program Manager Leland Forrest Belew explained the critical function of rate gyroscopes in describing Skylab’s orientation: “Skylab in orbit needed a reference direction in space to insure that it had the desired angular orientation as it passed any given point in its orbit. This function was performed by Sun sensors, rate gyroscopes, and star trackers. They sensed the angular position and rate of rotation of Skylab with respect to the Sun and selected stars. Rate-gyroscope processors measured the rate of rotation of Skylab . . .” (page 45).

The task during EVA 2 entailed hooking up a 23-foot, two-inch connecting cable for the station’s new rate gyroscopes. The rate gyroscopes’ mounting was located opposite the Apollo Telescope Mount control and display console inside the Multiple Docking Adapter.

The Skylab 3 mission afforded career space milestones to Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma. Their participation in the mission effected their first spaceflights and their first spacewalks. Also, the mission’s second EVA increased their career EVA total time to 11 hours 1 minute.

Owen Garriott claimed the mission’s top spot for number of spacewalks by participating in all three of the Skylab 3 EVAs. His third EVA took place Saturday, Sept. 22, in the company of the Skylab 3 mission’s commander, fourth moonwalker Alan Bean (March 15, 1932-May 26, 2018).

The Skylab 3 mission spanned 59 days 11 hours 9 minutes 1 second. The mission launched Saturday, July 28, 1973, at 11:10:50 UTC (7:10 a.m. EDT) from east central Florida’s Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral since Oct. 9, 1973). Splashdown took place Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 22:19:51 UTC (6:19 p.m. EDT) in the northeastern Pacific, southwest of San Diego, southwestern California.

The takeaways for Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma making their second EVA Aug. 24, 1973, at the Skylab space station are that the two astronauts achieved their first spaceflights and their first two spacewalks during the Skylab 3 mission and that their second spacewalk included critical repairing of the Skylab space station’s rate gyroscopes, essential measurers of Skylab’s orientation.

During the Skylab 3 mission’s EVA 2, Aug. 24, 1973, mission pilot Jack Lousma hooks up a 23-foot, two-inch connecting cable for rate gyroscopes that were mounted inside the space station, inside the Multiple Docking Adapter opposite the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) control and display console; photographic reproduction from a color television transmission made by a TV camera onboard Skylab; NASA ID s73-33161: Public Domain, via NASA Images

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Skylab 3 scientist-pilot Owen Garriott, atop Skylab’s Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), removes a film magazine (white box) from one of the space station cluster’s eight solar telescopes; the procedure occurred while Skylab was at a height of 435 kilometers (270.296 miles) above Earth’s surface and orbiting at a speed of 29,000 kilometers per hour (18,019.765 miles per hour); NASA ID 7047445: Public Domain, via NASA Images @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-7047445.html

During the Skylab 3 mission’s EVA 2, Aug. 24, 1973, mission pilot Jack Lousma hooks up a 23-foot, two-inch connecting cable for rate gyroscopes that were mounted inside the space station, inside the Multiple Docking Adapter opposite the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) control and display console; photographic reproduction from a color television transmission made by a TV camera onboard Skylab; NASA ID s73-33161: Public Domain, via NASA Images @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-s73-33161.html

For further information:

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Available via NASA History @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch3.htm#46

Belew, Leland F., ed. “6. The Space Station Unmanned.’” Skylab, Our First Space Station: 94-101. Prepared by George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA SP-400. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1977.
Available via NASA History @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch6.htm

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