Editing Skylab (section)

=== Shuttle mission plans ===
[[File:Teleoperator Retrieval System with Shuttle.jpg|right|thumb|Concept for proposed Skylab re-boost]]

The reactivation would likely have occurred in four phases:<ref name="oberg199202"/><ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=September 1978 |title=Skylab Reuse Study |url=https://archive.org/details/skylab-reuse-study/mode/2up?view=theater |publisher=Martin Marietta}}</ref> 
# [[Canceled Space Shuttle missions#STS-2A (Columbia)|An early Space Shuttle flight]] would have boosted Skylab to a higher orbit, adding five years of operational life. The shuttle might have pushed or towed the station, but attaching a [[space tug]] – the [[Teleoperator Retrieval System]] (TRS) – to the station would have been more likely, based on astronauts' training for the task. [[Martin Marietta]] won the contract for US$26 million to design the apparatus.<ref name="time19790101"/> TRS would contain about three tons of propellant.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/skyodule.htm |title=Skylab Reboost Module |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Astronautica |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231140817/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/skyodule.htm|archive-date=December 31, 2009}}</ref> The remote-controlled booster had TV cameras and was designed for duties such as space construction and servicing and retrieving satellites the shuttle could not reach. After rescuing Skylab, the TRS would have remained in orbit for future use. Alternatively, it could have been used to de-orbit Skylab for a safe, controlled re-entry and destruction.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Dempewolff |first=Richard F. |date=August 1978 |title=Our Growing Junkyard in Space |magazine=Popular Mechanics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mM8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57|page=57 |access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>
# In two shuttle flights, Skylab would have been refurbished. In January 1982, the first mission would have attached a docking adapter and conducted repairs. In August 1983, a second crew would have replaced several system components.
# In March 1984, shuttle crews would have attached a solar-powered Power Expansion Package, refurbished scientific equipment, and conducted 30- to 90-day missions using the Apollo Telescope Mount and the Earth resources experiments.
# Over five years, Skylab would have been expanded to accommodate six to eight astronauts, with a new large docking/interface module, additional logistics modules, Spacelab modules and pallets, and an orbital vehicle space dock using the shuttle's [[external tank]].

The first three phases would have required about US$60 million in 1980s dollars, not including launch costs. Other options for launching TRS were [[Titan III]] or [[Atlas-Agena]].<ref name=oberg199202/>