Skylab Technical Crew Debriefing 1973

This NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center release collects excerpts from the Skylab 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 technical crew debriefings, dated June 30, 1973, October 4, 1973 and February 22, 1974. The Skylab 2 crew describe light flashes they saw with their eyes closed and link some of them to cosmic particles. The Skylab 3 crew describe a bright reddish, rotating object that they tracked for about 10 minutes in an orbit close to their own and ask to have it identified. The Skylab 4 crew report lights outside that they took to be Skylab debris or other satellites.

From the source: Release of 2026-05-08 Launched on May 14, 1973, Skylab was the United States’ first laboratory in space. From 1973 to 1974, the station was visited by three crews. This document contains excerpts from all three crews to visit the station. In the first excerpt taken from Skylab 1/2 [first crew] Technical Debriefing from June 30, 1973, highlights crew observations of light flashes. The second excerpt taken from Skylab 1/3 Technical Crew Debriefing from October 4, 1973, highlights two observations—a satellite in similar orbit and another object with a “reddish hue to it.” The final excerpt taken from the Skylab 1/4 Technical Crew Debriefing from February 22, 1974, highlights an observation of flashing lights outside Skylab. • Skylab 2 crew observation: o Page 23-20. [Science Pilot for Skylab 2, Joesph Kerwin] “We saw light flashes. I think all of us saw them. I saw them most often when I was in the sack at night with my eyes closed but awake naturally. They tended to wax and wane in frequency.” • Skylab 3 crew observations: o Page 7-4. [Science Pilot for Skylab 3, Owen Garriott] “We saw that satellite about a week before splashdown. That was one of the most unusual things that we saw and I guess Jack [Lousma] noticed it looking out the window. This bright reddish object was out there and we tracked it for about 5 or 10 minutes. It was obviously a satellite in a very similar orbit to our own.” o Page 20-1. [Science Pilot for Skylab 3, Owen Garriott] “Jack [Lousma] first noticed this rather large red star out the wardroom window. Upon close examination, it was much brighter than Jupiter or any of the other planets. It had a reddish hue to it, even though it was well above the horizon.” • Skylab 4 crew observation o Page 7-8. [Commander for Skylab 4, Gerald P. Carr] “One other area of unusual events that we reported on the dump tapes was that on occasion we saw some lights flashing outside with very a definite motion relative to ours. We presumed that they were other pieces of Skylab, or possibly other satellites.”

CONRAD Sometimes I'd be lying there with my eyes half closed, and I'd
see a fire sensor wink.
KERWIN And you'd have to be careful that you weren't confusing that
with the fire flash. Once you've seen a few of each, there is
question of which is which. They're not an hallucination.
KERWIN We didn't feel it was operationally necessary for anybody to
know about it right now.
WEITZ I had a couple that I thought were cosmic particles.
an entrance streak and an exit streak.
I saw
CONRAD Yes, I did too.
WEITZ Where, bing-bing, it seemed like it was
and then the other side.
one side of the eyeball,
CONRAD One night I remember that there was a long shot then it was
blank then there was a long shot in rapid succession, of
course, but very definitely in and out - or across the eye.
KERWIN Medical Kits and IMSS. As far as adequate quantity of medica
tion and supplies, I would guess we used about 0.01 percent
of the available medication. I think this is something for
me to sit down with the doctors and talk about. There is
plenty of medicine up there for the Skylab missons. There is
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