Edward Gibson Sketched Comet Kohoutek After Third Skylab 4 EVA Dec. 29

Summary: Edward Gibson sketched Comet Kohoutek after the third Skylab 4 EVA Dec. 29, 1973, one day after perihelion, the closest comet-to-sun distance.

Comet Kohoutek’s appearance on Saturday, Dec. 29, 1973, one day after perihelion, by Skylab 4 scientist pilot Edward Gibson; post-flight, color sketch, based on black-and-white sketch drawn after third Skylab 4 EVA, conducted Dec. 29; G. Gary, Comet Kohoutek (1974), Figure 2, page 5: Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Edward Gibson sketched Comet Kohoutek after the third Skylab 4 EVA Dec. 29, 1973, the day after the recently discovered comet’s Friday, Dec. 28, reach of perihelion (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + ἥλιος, hḗlios, “sun”), its closest distance to the sun.

The Skylab 4 mission was scheduled to maximize observations of Comet Kohoutek, discovered Wednesday, March 7, 1973, at northern Germany’s Hamburg Observatory (Hamburger Sternwarte) by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek (born Jan. 29, 1935). The mission’s Friday, Nov. 16, 1973, launch and Friday, Feb. 8, 1974, splashdown largely overlapped with Comet Kohoutek’s perihelion passage between December 1973 and January 1974.

Skylab 4 numbered as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) third and final manned mission to Skylab, the first United States space station. All three Skylab 4 astronauts were rookies, with no previous spaceflight experience. The crew comprised Gerald Paul Carr (born Aug. 22, 1932) as commander, Edward George Gibson (born Nov. 8, 1936) as scientist pilot and William Reid Pogue (Jan. 23, 1930-March 3, 2014) as mission pilot.

Four days elapsed between the start times of the mission’s second and third EVAs. Skylab 4’s second EVA began Christmas Day, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 1973, at 16:00 Coordinated Universal Time (11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time). The mission’s third EVA (extravehicular activity) began Saturday, Dec. 29, 1973, at 17:00 UTC (12 p.m. EST).

The lapse between the second EVA’s end and the third EVA’s start, however, amounted to one minute short of 3 days 18 hours. EVA2 lasted longer than anticipated, with an actual, record-breaking duration of 7 hours 1 minute.

EVA 3 required only 3 hours 29 minutes. The mission’s third EVA ended at 20:29 UTC (3:29 p.m. EST).

Commander Carr and scientist pilot Gibson participated in the third Skylab 4 EVA. EVA 3 counted as the second career spacewalk for both of them. Gibson had joined William Pogue in the mission’s first EVA, which began Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 22, at 17:42 UTC (12 p.m. EST), and ended 6 hours 33 minutes later, Friday, Nov. 23, at 00:15 UTC (Thursday, Nov. 22, at 7:15 p.m. EST). Carr had partnered with Pogue Christmas Day for his first spacewalk, which was Pogue’s second.

Both EVA 2 and EVA 3 emphasized photography of Comet Kohoutek with the mission’s far-ultraviolet electrographic camera. Originally designed as a backup model for the Apollo 16 mission’s S201 lunar surface experiment in late April 1972, the camera was modified for inside and outside imaging of Comet Kohoutek.

After the completion of EVA 3, Gibson continued his free time practice of making sketches of his visual observations of Comet Kohoutek. Gibson’s drawing of his Dec. 29 view of the comet numbered as his second sketch. He based his drawing on observations outdoors during EVA 3 and indoors at window number three in the Structural Transition Section (STS) linking the station's Multiple Docking Adaptor (MDA) and Airlock Module (AM).

Gibson’s first sketch dated to Tuesday, Dec. 18, 10 days before perihelion. He made a total of 10 sketches between December 1973 and January 1974. His last sketch presented the comet’s appearance Sunday, Jan. 6, nine days after Comet Kohoutek’s perihelion.

In a paper presented at the Comet Kohoutek Workshop of June 13-14, 1974, at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, Gibson explained that his sketches “. . . were not in the pre-mission plans and were drawn when the crew could find free time” (page 3). His strategy for depicting the comet relied upon 10-power binoculars for most observations. Commander Carr and Pilot Pogue then reviewed Gibson’s drawings “. . . to ensure that the sketches were consistent with their observations.” He noted that after the mission he drew another set in color “. . . corresponding to each of the in-flight sketches” (page 3).

The takeaways for Edward Gibson’s sketch of Comet Kohoutek after the third Skylab 4 EVA Saturday, Dec. 29, 1973, are that the black-and-white drawing reflects the crew’s collective impression of the recently discovered comet’s appearance one day after perihelion, that he made a total of 10 black-and-white sketches onboard Skylab and that, after his return to Earth, he made corresponding sketches in color.

sketch of Comet Kohoutek, drawn by Edward Gibson after third Skylab 4 EVA, Saturday, Dec. 29, 1973, one day after the comet’s reach of perihelion: C.A. Lundquist, Skylab’s Astronomy and Space Sciences (1979), Figures 4-18, pages 54: Public Domain, via NASA History

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Comet Kohoutek’s appearance on Saturday, Dec. 29, 1973, one day after perihelion, by Skylab 4 scientist pilot Edward Gibson; post-flight, color sketch, based on black-and-white sketch drawn after third Skylab 4 EVA, conducted Dec. 29; G. Gary, Comet Kohoutek (1974), Figure 2, page 5: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/CometKohoutek/page/n15

sketch of Comet Kohoutek, drawn by Edward Gibson after third Skylab 4 EVA, Saturday, Dec. 29, 1973, one day after the comet’s reach of perihelion: C.A. Lundquist, Skylab’s Astronomy and Space Sciences (1979), Figures 4-18, pages 54: Public Domain, via NASA History @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-404/p54b.htm

For further information:

Gary, Gilmer Allen, ed. Comet Kohoutek: A Workshop Held at Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Alabama June 13-14, 1974. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1975.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/CometKohoutek

George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. MSFC Skylab Kohoutek Project Report. NASA Technical Memorandum TM X-64880. Huntsville AL: October 1974.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19740027130
Available via NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA NTRS) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740027130.pdf

Gibson, Edward G. “Skylab Visual Observation of Comet Kohoutek.” Pages 3-14. In: Gilmer Allen Gary, ed. Comet Kohoutek: A Workshop Held at Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Alabama June 13-14, 1974. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1975.
Available @ https://archive.org/details/CometKohoutek/page/n13

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Lundquist, Charles A., ed. “Chapter 4: Observations of Comet Kohoutek.” Skylab’s Astronomy and Space Sciences: 42-63. NASA SP-404. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1979.
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