Editing Skylab (section)

== Mission designations ==
The numerical identification of the crewed Skylab missions was the cause of some confusion. Originally, the uncrewed launch of Skylab and the three crewed missions to the station were numbered ''SL-1'' through ''SL-4''. During the preparations for the crewed missions, some documentation was created with a different scheme – ''SLM-1'' through ''SLM-3'' – for those missions only. [[William Pogue]] credits [[Pete Conrad]] with asking the Skylab program director which scheme should be used for the [[mission patch]]es, and the astronauts were told to use 1–2–3, not 2–3–4. By the time NASA administrators tried to reverse this decision, it was too late, as all the in-flight clothing had already been manufactured and shipped with the 1–2–3 mission patches.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://williampogue.com/skylab-numbering-mixup.html|title=Skylab Numbering Fiasco|publisher=WilliamPogue.com|access-date=July 13, 2007|archive-date=February 2, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202194734/http://williampogue.com/skylab-numbering-mixup.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" style="width: 100px;" | Mission
! scope="col" | Emblem
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Commander
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Science Pilot
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Pilot
! scope="col" style="width: 160px;" | Launch date
! scope="col" style="width: 160px;" | Landing date
! scope="col" style="width:  80px;" | Duration (days)
|-
! scope="row" | Skylab 1 ''SL-1''
| [[File:Skylab Program Patch.png|center|50px]]
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | ''uncrewed launch of space station''
| 1973-05-14 <br>17:30:00 UTC
| 1979-07-11 <br>16:37:00 UTC
| style="text-align: right;" | 2248.96
|-
! scope="row" | [[Skylab 2|Skylab 2 ''SL-2'' (''SLM-1'')]]
| [[File:Skylab1-Patch.png|center|50px]]
| [[Pete Conrad]]
| [[Joseph P. Kerwin|Joseph Kerwin]]
| [[Paul J. Weitz|Paul Weitz]]
| 1973-05-25 <br>13:00:00 UTC
| 1973-06-22 <br>13:49:48 UTC
| style="text-align: right;" | 28.03
|-
! scope="row" | [[Skylab 3|Skylab 3 ''SL-3'' (''SLM-2'')]]
| [[File:Skylab2-Patch.png|center|50px]]
| [[Alan Bean]]
| [[Owen Garriott]]
| [[Jack Lousma]]
| 1973-07-28 <br>11:10:50 UTC
| 1973-09-25 <br>22:19:51 UTC
| style="text-align: right;" | 59.46
|-
! scope="row" | [[Skylab 4|Skylab 4 ''SL-4'' (''SLM-3'')]]
| [[File:Skylab3-Patch.png|center|50px]]
| [[Gerald Carr (astronaut)|Gerald Carr]]
| [[Edward Gibson]]
| [[William Pogue]]
| 1973-11-16 <br>14:01:23 UTC
| 1974-02-08 <br>15:16:53 UTC
| style="text-align: right;" | 84.04
|-
! scope="row" | [[Skylab 5]]
| {{n/a}}
| [[Vance Brand]]
| [[William B. Lenoir]]
| [[Don Lind]]
| (April 1974, cancelled)
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 20 (notional)
|-
! scope="row" | [[Skylab Rescue]]
| {{n/a}}
| Vance Brand
| {{n/a}}
| Don Lind
| (On Standby)
| {{n/a}}
| style="text-align: right;" | Predicted to last less than 5 days
|}

L.B. James of NASA Marshall predicted in 1970 that an astronomer, medical doctor, and third scientist might compose each Skylab crew.<ref name="evans2011">{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWht0brbIfEC&pg=PA136 |title= At Home in Space: The Late Seventies into the Eighties |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4419-8810-2 |location=New York |pages=136–139, 142 |oclc=756509282}}</ref> [[NASA Astronaut Group 4]] and [[NASA Astronaut Group 6]] were scientists recruited as astronauts. They and the scientific community hoped to have two on each Skylab mission, but [[Deke Slayton]], director of flight crew operations, insisted that two trained pilots fly on each.<ref name="elder">{{cite book|last=Elder|first=Donald C. |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Contents.html|title=From Engineering Science to Big Science: The NACA and NASA Collier Trophy Research Project Winners|publisher=NASA|year=1998|editor-last=Mack|editor-first=Pamela E.|series=The NASA History Series|chapter=The Human Touch: The History of the Skylab Program|id=SP-4219|chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter9.html}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> Although the scientists were qualified jet pilots, NASA headquarters made the final decision of one scientist in each Skylab crew on 6 July 1971, after the deaths of three cosmonauts on Soyuz 11.{{r|evans2011}}

Kerwin was the first Skylab scientist-astronaut. NASA chose a medical doctor to better understand the [[effect of spaceflight on the human body]] on a long-duration mission. Astronauts trained for minor medical procedures at a Houston hospital [[emergency department]].{{r|evans2011}}

=== SMEAT ===
{{main|Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test}}
The ''Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test'' or SMEAT was a 56-day (8-week) Earth analog Skylab test.<ref>{{harvp|Benson|Compton|1983|loc=[https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/ch8.htm "8: The Medical Experiments"]}}.</ref> The test had a low-pressure high oxygen-percentage atmosphere but it operated under full gravity, as SMEAT was not in orbit. The test had a three-astronaut crew with Commander [[Robert Crippen]], Pilot [[Karol J. Bobko]], and Science Pilot [[William E. Thornton]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/about/history/jsc50/S72-43280.html|title=Astronaut Crippen With Skylab Training Hardware|publisher=NASA |date=Sep 14, 2011}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> there was a focus on medical studies and Thornton was an M.D.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://utmb-ir.tdl.org/utmb-ir/handle/2152.3/587 |title=Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test (SMEAT)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131200539/https://utmb-ir.tdl.org/utmb-ir/handle/2152.3/587|archive-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref> The crew lived and worked in the pressure chamber, converted to be like Skylab, from July 26 to September 20, 1972.<ref name="part3b"/>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" style="width: 100px;" | Mission
! scope="col" | Emblem
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Commander
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Pilot
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Science Pilot
! scope="col" style="width: 160px;" | Start date
! scope="col" style="width: 160px;" | End date
! scope="col" style="width:  80px;" | Duration
|-
! scope="row" | [[Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test]] (SMEAT)
| [[File:SMEAT patch.jpg|center|50px]]
| [[Bob Crippen]]
| [[Karol Bobko]]
| [[William E. Thornton|William Thornton]]
| July 26, 1972
| September 20, 1972<ref name="part3b"/>
| 56 days
|}
[[File:Skylab X-Ray Stellar Classes graphic (0102061).jpg|thumb|left|upright=2.2|ED 24 experiment chart example]]
{{Clear}}