Posts: 52
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Jul 2021

posted 10-13-2025 08:24 PM               

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I have a NASA Skylab light fixture from 1973 that was designed for the crew areas, made by Sylvania, a general illumination floodlight.

Out of curiosity I wired it up to a solid LED driver/power supply I had, and you know what? That thing sprung right to life and lit up just like it was made to do. After 52 years still works.

Of course the Sylvania light fixture is sealed with the the fluorescent bulb inside a tube, I assume permanently sealed, as in unchangeable and housed in a sturdy metal housing. It's just amazing after half a century it still lights up.

Posts: 55352
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-14-2025 08:42 PM               

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That's very cool! It has also got me thinking...

I wonder if the old joke, "How many astronauts does it take to screw in a light bulb?", has ever played out in real life? By that I mean, with Mir having been in use for 15 years and the International Space Station at nearly 25 years of continuous occupancy, has any light fixture burned out and needed to be replaced?

Posts: 5520
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

Posts: 55352
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999