Earth and Space News: Alan Bean last spacewalk Skylab 3

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Fourth Moonwalker Alan Bean Did His Last EVA at Skylab Sept. 22, 1973

Summary: Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean did his last EVA at Skylab Sept. 22, 1973, during his command of the space station’s second manned mission, Skylab 3.

Alan Bean, Skylab 3 commander, is positioned for film changeout during the mission’s third and final extravehicular activity (EVA), Saturday, Sept. 22, 1973; NASA's caption notes: "Astronaut Owen K. Garriott, who took the picture, is reflected in Bean's helmet visor. The reflected Earth disk in Bean's visor is so clear that the Red Sea and Nile River area can delineated."; NASA ID sI3-122-2611: Public Domain, via NASA Images

Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean did his last EVA at Skylab Saturday, Sept. 22, 1973, during his command of Skylab 3, the second manned mission sent by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Skylab, the first United States space station.

Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932-May 26, 2018) paired with the mission’s scientist-pilot, Owen Kay Garriott (Nov. 22, 1930-April 15, 2019), for the third of three extravehicular activities (EVAs) conducted during the Skylab 3 mission. The mission’s EVA 3 numbered as the third and last career EVA, also known as spacewalk, for both Bean and Garriott.

Bean and Garriott began the spacewalk Saturday, Sept. 22, at 11:18 Coordinated Universal Time (7:18 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). EVA 3 ended 2 hours 41 minutes later, at 13:59 UTC (9:59 a.m. EDT), Saturday, Sept. 22.

The EVA 3 objective focused on retrieving full film canisters from Skylab’s Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) and installing fresh film canisters. Owen Garriott and mission pilot Jack Robert Lousma (born Feb. 29, 1936) had been tasked with swapping film canisters during the mission’s first spacewalks, EVA 1 and EVA 2.

The Apollo Telescope Mount served as the space station’s solar observatory. The Apollo Telescope Mount included eight major instruments for solar studies. Data collected by the ATM’s instruments primarily was captured on photographic film. The Skylab 3 mission’s solar observations yielded 74,942 film frames, according to the Skylab Operations Summary by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s (NASA MSFC) Public Affairs Office (PAO).

The Apollo Telescope Mount topped the space station’s Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) and also relied on supports from the Airlock Module (AM). The Airlock Module’s features included an airlock for extravehicular activities. The Multiple Docking Adapter provided docking ports for the Apollo Command and Service Modules (CSM) that transported the crew and cargo of NASA’s three manned missions to the Skylab space station.

The Multiple Docking Adapter also housed the command and display (C &D) console for the Apollo Telescope Mount. In Skylab: A Guidebook, published by NASA in 1973, Skylab Program Manager Leland Forrest Belew (Feb. 25, 1925-June 6, 2008) and MSFC Associate Director of Science Ernst Stuhlinger (Dec. 19, 1913-May 25, 2008) explained: “Astronaut operation of the Apollo Telescope Mount and the Skylab attitude control will be performed at the ATM Control and Display Console in the MDA. This console contains several TV screens and other visual indicators which will enable the astronauts to follow ATM activities closely and to actively participate in target selection, telescope orientation, experimental procedures, and interpretation of instrumental and visual observations” (72).

Swapping the solar observatory’s film canisters, however, necessitated a spacewalk. A long boom transferred each canister between one astronaut, positioned atop the Apollo Telescope Mount, and the second astronaut, positioned below, at the Airlock Module’s airlock door.

EVA 3’s duration of 2 hours 41 minutes tallied as the shortest of the mission’s three extravehicular activities. EVA 1, conducted from 17:30 UTC, Monday, Aug. 6 (5:30 p.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 6), to 00:01 UTC, Tuesday, Aug. 7 (8:01 p.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 6), was the longest, with a duration of 6 hours 31 minutes. EVA 2, performed Friday, Aug. 24, from 16:24 UTC (12:24 p.m. EDT) to 20:55 UTC (4:55 p.m. EDT), claimed the second longest duration, with a total time of 4 hours 31 minutes.

Alan Bean’s first two extravehicular activities occurred during his first spaceflight. He served as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 12, the sixth manned flight in the United States Apollo program. The Apollo 12 mission marked the program’s second landing on the moon. The mission’s two extravehicular activities took place Wednesday, Nov. 19, and Thursday, Nov. 20, 1969. The duration of the two EVAs totaled 7 hours 45 minutes 18 seconds.

Participation in the Skylab 3 mission boosted Bean’s career spaceflights to two. Bean’s Skylab spacewalk increased his career EVA time to 10 hours 26 minutes.

The takeaway for fourth moonwalker Alan Bean doing his last EVA at Skylab Sept. 22, 1973, is that the Skylab 3 mission’s commander, whose first spaceflight and first two EVAs occurred in 1969 via the moon-landing Apollo 12 mission, added a second spaceflight and a third and final spacewalk to his NASA career via his command of NASA’s second manned mission to the Skylab space station.

Inside the Skylab space station’s Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA), Skylab 3 scientist-pilot Owen Garriott is stationed at the command and display (C & D) console for the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM); Date created 1973-08-08; NASA ID sI3-108-1288; 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:

Belew, Leland F.; and Ernst Stuhlinger. “Chapter IV: Skylab Design and Operation.” Skylab: A Guidebook: 61-113. NASA EP 107. Huntsville AL: George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1973.
Available via NASA History @ https://history.nasa.gov/EP-107/ch4.htm

Hitt, David; Owen Garriott; and Joe Kerwin. Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story. Featuring the In-Flight Diary of Alan Bean. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books/about/Homesteading_Space.html?id=sR5Cm_zeIekC

Kelly, Michelle. “Alan L. Bean Oral History Interviews.” NASA Johnson Space Center History Portal > NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. June 23, 1998.
Available @ https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/BeanAL/beanal.htm

Marriner, Derdriu. “Arabella and Anita Spun First Space Webs in August 1973 at Skylab.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 31, 2013.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/07/arabella-and-anita-spun-first-space.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “First Web in Space Was Spun in 1973 by Common Cross Spider Arabella.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/08/first-web-in-space-was-spun-in-1973-by.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Fourth Moonwalker Alan Bean Commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 22, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/fourth-moonwalker-alan-bean-commanded.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma Did Second EVA Aug. 24, 1973, at Skylab.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/08/owen-garriott-and-jack-lousma-did.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Skylab 3 Astronaut Wives Pranked Spouses With Unofficial Mission Patch." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 15, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/skylab-3-astronaut-wives-pranked.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Skylab 3 Captured Dramatic Solar Prominences in August 1973." Earth and Space News. Wednesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/08/skylab-3-captured-dramatic-solar.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Skylab 3 Mission Patch Emphasized Earth, Sun and Medical Themes." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 8, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/skylab-3-mission-patch-emphasized-earth.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Skylabbers Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma First Spacewalked Aug. 6, 1973.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/08/skylabbers-owen-garriott-and-jack.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Two Mummichog Minnows Became First Fish in Space in 1973 Via Skylab 3.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 29, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/two-mummichog-minnows-became-first-fish.html

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Public Affairs Office. “Skylab Operations Summary.” NASA/Kennedy Space Center > Space Flight Archives > Skylab > Program Overview.
Available @ https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/skylab/skylab-operations.txt

Ross-Nazzal, Jennifer. “Alan L. Bean Oral History Interviews.” NASA Johnson Space Center History Portal > NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Feb. 23, 2010.
Available @ https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/BeanAL/beanal.htm

Ross-Nazzal, Jennifer. “Jack R. Lousma Oral History Interviews.” NASA Johnson Space Center History Portal > NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. March 15, 2010.
Available @ https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/LousmaJR/lousmajr.htm

Rusnak, Kevin M. “Owen K. Garriott Oral History Interviews.” NASA Johnson Space Center History Portal > NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Nov. 6, 2000.
Available @ https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/GarriottOK/garriottok.htm

Shayler, David J. Skylab: America’s Space Station. Springer-Praxis Books in Astronomy and Space Sciences. London, England; New York NY: Springer, 2001.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=X4WaYqQDVKwC

Whiting, Melanie. “Skylab 3: A Record 59 Days in Space.” NASA > History. Sept. 25, 2018.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/skylab-3-a-record-59-days-in-space

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Fourth Moonwalker Alan Bean Commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973

Summary: Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973 for NASA’s second manned mission to the first United States space station.

Apollo 9 Lunar Module Pilot Russell “Rusty” Schweikart (back to camera) and another training officer (left background) wear surgical masks as Skylab 3 mission’s scientist-pilot Owen Garriott (center), with mock-up of trunnion plug plate, Commander Alan Bean (center background) and mission pilot Jack Lousma (center right) participate in prelaunch training at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Harris County, Southeast Texas; Saturday, June 30, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library

Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973 for NASA’s second manned mission to Skylab, the first United States space station.

The Skylab 3 mission launched Saturday, July 28, 1973, from Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral since Oct. 9, 1973) in east central Florida at 11:10:50 Coordinated Universal Time (7:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Saturn IB launch vehicle carried the crew and mission paraphernalia in Apollo CSM (command and service module) 117.

Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932-May 26, 2018) headed the mission’s three-astronaut crew as commander. The mission marked the first spaceflights for scientist-pilot Owen Kay Garriott (Nov. 22, 1930-April 15, 2019) and mission pilot Jack Robert Lousma (born Feb. 29, 1936).

CSM 117 sheltered a multi-species cargo. The three astronauts shared the module with Anita and Arabella, a pair of common cross spiders (Araneus diadematus); six pocket mice (Perognathus longimembris); 180 fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) pupae; two mummichog minnows (Fundular heteroclitus); and 50 minnow fish eggs.

Anita and Arabella participated in the mission’s experiment on web formation in zero gravity. Their presence in Skylab 3 marked the first arachnid (Ancient Greek: ἀράχνη, arákhnē, “spider”) journey to space. Arabella debuted the first made-in-space web during Skylab 3. Anita is famed as the second spider to spun a web in space.

The NASA-conducted experiment was proposed by Judith S. Miles of Lexington, Massachusetts. The high schooler qualified as one of 25 national finalists in NASA's Skylab Student Project competition.

The pocket mice and fruit flies (also known as vinegar gnats) were involved in circadian rhythm experiments. The mission’s Circadian Periodicity Experiment (CPE) unit included separate housings for the pocket mice and the fruit flies. NASA Ames Research Center’s 1995 report, Life Into Space, acknowledged: “Unfortunately, about 30 hours after launch a power failure occurred and resulted in the loss of both experiments” (page 80).

The two mummichog minnows boarded the Skylab 3 mission as the first fish in space. The two minnows learned to orientate themselves in the unfamiliar environment of weightlessness.

The space fish population burgeoned to 48 during the mission with the hatching of all but two eggs. The fish fry emerged from their eggs with innate orientations to their habitat in space.

Three spacewalks, known as extravehicular activity (EVA), took place during the Skylab 3 mission. Astronauts Garriott and Lousma experienced their first spacewalk during the mission’s first extravehicular activity (EVA 1), which began Monday, Aug. 6, 1973, at 17:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. EDT). EVA 1 ended six hours 31 minutes later, Tuesday, Aug. 7, at 00:01 UTC (8:01 p.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 6).

After their fledgling spacewalk, the duo became veterans in their outing for the mission’s second spacewalk (EVA 2). Their second spacewalk began Friday, Aug. 24, at 16:24 UTC (12:24 p.m. EDT). They completed the spacewalk four hours 31 minutes later, at 20:55 UTC (4:55 p.m. EDT).

Scientist-pilot Garriott claimed participation in all three of the mission’s spacewalks. He joined Commander Bean for EVA 3, which began Saturday, Sept. 22, at 11:18 UTC (7:18 a.m. EDT) and ended two hours 41 minutes later, at 13:59 UTC (9:59 a.m. EDT). With EVA 3, the Skylab 3 mission’s outside time totaled 13 hours 43 minutes.

The Skylab 3 mission’s third spacewalk numbered as Commander Bean’s third and last career extravehicular activity. He had conducted his first two extravehicular activities on the surface of the moon as the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 mission represented the United States Apollo program’s sixth manned flight and succeeded Apollo 11 as the second Apollo mission to land on Earth’s moon. With his first lunar walk, Nov. 19, 1969, Bean became the fourth moonwalker. The Apollo 12 mission’s commander, Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. (June 2, 1930-July 8, 1999), preceded him onto the lunar surface.

The Skylab 3 mission undocked from the space station Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 11:16:42 UTC (7:16 a.m. EDT). CSM 117 splashed down in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, approximately 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) southwest of San Diego, southwestern California. Splashdown happened at 22:19:51 UTC (6:19 p.m. EDT), 11 hours 3 minutes 9 seconds after CSM 117’s undocking. Retrieval of the command module and the crew by the recovery vessel, the USS New Orleans, occurred 42 minutes after splashdown, according to the Skylab Mission Evaluation Team's Skylab Mission Report Second Visit (1974: 2-2).

The takeaways for fourth moonwalker Alan Bean, who commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973, are that his Skylab 3 spacewalk numbered as his third and last career extravehicular activity and that, under his command, the first fish and spiders reached and lived in space and also the first made-in-space web was spun.

Skylab space station close-up view from Skylab 3 Command and Service Module (CSM) prior to docking; photographed with hand-held 70mm Hasselbad camera using a 100mm lens and SO-368 medium speed Ektachrome film; July 28, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Skylab space station close-up view from Skylab 3 Command and Service Module (CSM) prior to docking; photographed with hand-held 70mm Hasselbad camera using a 100mm lens and SO-368 medium speed Ektachrome film; Saturday, July 28, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-sl3-114-1683

For further information:

Burgess, Colin; and Chris Dubbs. Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle. Springer-Praxis Books in Space Exploration. Chichester UK: Praxis Publishing Ltd., 2007.

Caswell, Kurt. Laika’s Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog. San Antonio TX: Trinity University Press, 2018.

Compton, W. (William) David; and Charles D. Benson. Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab. The NASA History Series. NASA SP-4208. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Branch, 1983.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19840017669/page/n4

Day, Dwayne. “Outpost in the Sky: Skylab, the NASA Mission Reports.” The Space Review. June 26, 2017.
Available @ http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3270/1

Johnson, David Samuel. “The First Fish in Orbit.” Scientific American > Guest Blog. Dec. 22, 2016.
Available @ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-first-fish-in-orbit/

Lindberg, R. (Robert) G.; and P. (Page ) Hayden. Research on the Properties of Circadian Systems Amenable to Study in Space. NASA CR 137,523. Hawthrone [sic] CA: Northrop Research and Technology Center Corporate Laboratories, June 1974.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reporters Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740022376.pdf

Marriner, Derdriu. “Three African Postage Stamps Honored Astrocat Félicette’s 1963 Flight.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 5, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/three-african-postage-stamps-honored.html

NASA Ames Research Center. “Chronobiology of Pocket Mice (S071).” NASA Life Sciences Data Archive > Mission > Skylab.
Available via NASA Life Sciences Data Archive @ https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Experiment/exper/226

NASA Ames Research Center. “Circadian Rhythm in Vinegar Gnats (S072).” NASA Life Sciences Data Archive > Mission > Skylab.
Available via NASA Life Sciences Data Archive @ https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Experiment/exper/227

NASA Content Administrator. “The Skylab Crewed Missions.” NASA > Missions > All Missions A-Z > S > Skylab. May 6, 2013. Last updated Aug. 7, 2017.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/skylab/missions/skylab_manned.html

NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. “C. Zoology. 1. ED52 -- Web Formation.” MSFC Skylab Student Project Report: 38-46. NASA Technical Memorandum TM X-64866. NASA Skylab Program Office. August 1974.
Available @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740025164.pdf

Newkirk, Roland W.; Ivan D. Ertel; and Courtney G. Brooks. Skylab: A Chronology. The NASA History Series. NASA SP-4011. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Branch, 1977.
Available via NASA History @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4011/contents.htm
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reporters Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780017172.pdf

Skylab Mission Evaluation Team. Skylab Mission Report Second Visit. JSC-08662. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, January 1974.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reporters Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740011377.pdf

Souza, Kenneth; Robert Hogan; and Rodney Ballard, eds. “4. Programs, Missions, and Payloads -- Skylab 3.” Life Into Space: Space Life Sciences Experiments NASA Ames Research Center 1965-1990: 79-81. Moffett Field CA: NASA Ames Research Center, 1995.
Available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine @ https://web.archive.org/web/20090321010411/http://lis.arc.nasa.gov/lis/Programs/Skylab/Skylab_3/Skylab_3.html
Available via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/life_into_space_vol1.pdf

Steven-Boniecki, Dwight, ed. Skylab 3: The NASA Mission Reports. Apogee Space Books (Book 92). Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2016.