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Author Topic:   Skylab 2 stand-up EVA (16mm footage)
LM-12
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From: Ontario, Canada
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posted 05-02-2019 09:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Some of this 16mm film footage seems to have been taken during the Skylab 2 stand-up EVA (SEVA) by Paul Weitz. The command module is very close to the stuck solar array wing, and a pole-like tool is being used to try and pry it open.

You can also see a small thruster firing on Skylab, and for a split-second the edge of the CM reflected in the gold surface of Skylab. Later there are two unsuccessful docking attempts. (They hard-docked after eight attempts and an IVA.)

Before the SEVA, the crew had soft-docked to Skylab. That is most probably the first scene in the film footage.

LM-12
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From: Ontario, Canada
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posted 05-03-2019 10:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The flag would seem to indicate that the film is reversed.

Blackarrow
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From: Belfast, United Kingdom
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posted 05-03-2019 11:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Right way or wrong way round, I can state with confidence I have never seen that footage before!

Space Cadet Carl
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From: Lake Orion, Michigan
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posted 05-03-2019 01:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
First time I've seen that footage and I got rather nervous watching it. That was one very tricky and perilous operation attempting to get that array open. There was certainly some risk involved.

LM-12
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posted 05-03-2019 09:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think the footage is upside down also.

oly
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From: Perth, Western Australia
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posted 05-03-2019 09:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for oly   Click Here to Email oly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This image via Wikipedia shows that the film footage is reversed. Is there an "upside down" in space?

Dwight
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From: Germany
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posted 05-04-2019 03:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dwight   Click Here to Email Dwight     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Searching for Skylab features this footage. It shows the failed docking attempt and the SEVA where Weitz can be seen attempting to pry open the solar array.

LM-12
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posted 05-04-2019 07:48 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Skylab Crewmember Interviews has this account from Paul Weitz:
We flew around (to) soft dock, went ahead and ate and prepared for our standup EVA in an attempt to deploy that remaining solar wing. We undocked, flew around to the side during a night pass so that we were all ready to go as soon as it got daylight, we went ahead and dumped the cabin, opened the hatch, that first light, I went out the hatch, Joe stayed down in the lower equipment bay portion of the command module, steadied my feet and passed me portions of tools.

We had various tools that fitted on the end of 5-foot sections of pole which screwed together. Using this and what we call a Shepherd's Hook, which was a large hook with which we intended to hook under the free end of the solar panel and break it loose and swing it out, Pete went ahead and drove the vehicle right on it, he had no problem station-keeping, which we're all glad to see, because we really had some concerns about his ability, with Joe and I thrashing around in the vehicle to control the vehicle in a pressurized suit.

Uh, the command module hadn't ever really been flown by someone in a pressurized suit before. Uh, but it turned out to be a do-able job, we went ahead and hooked under the beam, the portion of the strap of the remaining piece of the meteoroid shield was still there, was wrapped up over the top of the beam however, was much stronger and practically welded in place. I heaved on the end of the beam on the pole, with the pole, hard enough to deflect the end of it about a foot and a half, according to Pete, pulled the two vehicles together and actually deflected the workshop, disturbed it from its inertial attitude, but it just wasn't enough to break that strap loose or do anything with it, so tired and discouraged with night coming on us, we then...

...Our assessment of the situation at the time, mine and Pete's, was that we did not have the right tools on board, I did ... we gave up on the hook and moved up to the strap, and we had a small two-prong tool onboard that actually we actually tried to then pry the strap loose, but we just couldn't get ahold of it and couldn't get enough leverage on it to pry it loose, so then we went, as we say, very discouraged, gave up, went back, redocked or attempted to redock, and that's when we got our next big surprise of not being able to make a successful capture, and that's the time when you really get down to the fourth-order backup procedure, which we never expected to use, and it was only kind of by chance that Pete and Joe really knew enough about it to go ahead and use it.

LM-12
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posted 05-04-2019 09:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by oly:
Is there an "upside down" in space?
If you reverse the film, the flag is in the 4 o'clock position and it doesn't look "backwards." If you then rotate the film 180 degrees, the flag is in the 10 o'clock position — which is, I believe, how the crew saw the flag out their windows when they docked (and how it looks in your Skylab 4 photo).

Dwight
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From: Germany
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posted 05-04-2019 04:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dwight   Click Here to Email Dwight     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Our film features Paul Weitz's last ever interview he gave, and we specifically asked him to describe how it was performing the SEVA. Additionally Joe Kerwin provided his account of how they attempted to free the solar panel. We also uncovered audio of the procedure, and I can tell you both Paul and Pete used colorful language to describe their frustrations during the whole procedure.

LM-12
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posted 05-04-2019 09:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There is an earlier film clip of the fly-around that includes a better view of the command module reflected in the gold surface of the Skylab workshop.

LM-12
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posted 05-05-2019 08:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The second audio file here includes the Skylab 2 SEVA.

LM-12
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posted 05-07-2019 09:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Capcom mentions the SEVA tools in the transcripts:
CC: And, Pete, while I've still got you here, our preliminary recommendation is - I think goes along with yours - and that is the first try should be just pulling at the bottom of the beam. And, I guess our recommendation as far as tool configuration might be one pull with the SAS hook, one with a cable cutter, and one with a mushroom and tether.

CDR: Okay. You want us to pull on the bottom first. We'll give her a go.

oly
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posted 05-07-2019 09:36 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for oly   Click Here to Email oly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Paul Weitz gives a very good account of the whole procedure in his oral history project interview found here. It is an interesting read.

rasorenson
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From: Santa Clara, CA, USA
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posted 05-07-2019 09:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for rasorenson   Click Here to Email rasorenson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
...learn something every day! Never knew Weitz performed a SEVA with Conrad nosing the CM up to the solar wing. But I'm not a Skylab aficionado. You guys are great!

Blackarrow
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From: Belfast, United Kingdom
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posted 05-08-2019 08:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by oly:
Paul Weitz gives a very good account of the whole procedure in his oral history project interview...
I remember talking to Paul Weitz about the SEVA about 15 years ago. As I recall the account, Skylab fought back! As Weitz pulled on the solar-wing, Newton's Third Law of Motion came into play and the CSM moved closer to Skylab. Conrad had to use the RCS jets to maintain a safe distance from Skylab, but this meant Skylab itself was being moved out of position and it fired its thrusters to restore its attitude. That in turn pulled against Weitz's "shepherd's crook" and that's why Kerwin was holding onto Weitz's feet to stop him being hauled out of the hatch by Skylab's reaction to HIS hauling. All very Buck Rogers...

LM-12
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posted 05-08-2019 08:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The SEVA duration was 37 minutes according to the mission summary in NASA SP-400. This oral history comment by Weitz about the hatch was interesting:
That hatch on Apollo opened out this way, because Pete is sitting over here trying to make sure we don't collide with the workshop, but at least a quarter, if not a third of his field of view, perhaps nearly a half, is blocked by the open hatch. So it made for some dicey times. We hosed out a fair amount of gas doing that.

Blackarrow
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posted 05-08-2019 04:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It seems almost inexplicable that Pete Conrad could express greater satisfaction with an Earth orbital mission than with a lunar landing mission, but knowing what he and his crew had to do on that first Skylab mission (the stand-up EVA and the later EVA to deploy the solar-wing were only part of it) makes it easier to understand.

LM-12
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From: Ontario, Canada
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posted 05-08-2019 09:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The footage shows Weitz tugging on the top side of the solar wing. But if the film footage is reversed and upside down, then he was actually tugging on the bottom side (as he saw it) of the solar wing.

Weitz out the hatch must have looked like Dave Scott did on Apollo 9. Just substitute the LM for Skylab.

Well, almost like Dave Scott. Weitz had an A7LB suit with a white LEVA helmet, and half the command module was painted white.

LM-12
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From: Ontario, Canada
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posted 05-16-2019 11:33 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This 16mm film footage of the Skylab 2 undocking is also reversed and upside down. Compare with photo SL2-X7-634 in the undocking sequence.

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