NASA’s Model Spacecraft, 1960s

5 comments to NASA’s Model Spacecraft, 1960s

• Bill Thompson

  January 31, 2012 at 3:40 am · Reply

  Wow, Skylab was an old design. Never knew that.

• Alan Bickerstaff

  February 8, 2012 at 9:35 am · Reply

  Skylab was always a compromise project, based on the need to use up a spare Saturn V (from the cancelled Apollo 18-20 missions), plus using technology developed for the (also cancelled) USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory programme. The third stage was converted from fuel tank to the lab itself.
  The pictures of the Lunar Module model are brilliant – if you get a chance to watch the series “From the Earth to the Moon”, watch the episode called “Spider”. It shows all the Grumman development of the LM, including the 5 legged version in the first photo.

• ap

  February 13, 2012 at 5:33 am · Reply

  Images 2 and three scream “Darth Vader!” and I love the Lunch lady in image 10.

  • qka

    March 4, 2012 at 5:06 pm · Reply

    Lunch lady? That’s a sexist comment! I saw a female engineer. They have long been around, admittedly not in the numbers there are today.

• Alan Bickerstaff

  April 13, 2012 at 11:10 am · Reply

  To follow up on my comment above – I was at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum last week. They have the “back-up” Skylab on display, which you can walk through. Surprising spacious inside. It even has one solar panel missing to duplicate the fact that the flown one lost a panel on it’s way to orbit.