Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story

David Hitt · Owen K. Garriott · Joe Kerwin

Jan 2008 · U of Nebraska Press

About this eBook

As the United States and the Soviet Union went from exploring space to living in it, a space station was conceived as the logical successor to the Apollo moon program. But between conception and execution there was the vastness of space itself, to say nothing of monumental technological challenges. Homesteading Space, by two of Skylab s own astronauts and a NASA journalist, tells the dramatic story of America s first space station from beginning to fiery end. Homesteading Space is much more than a story of technological and scientific success; it is also an absorbing, sometimes humorous, often inspiring account of the determined, hardworking individuals who shepherded the program through a near-disastrous launch, a heroic rescue, and an exhausting study of Comet Kohoutek, as well as the lab's ultimate descent into the Indian Ocean. Featuring the unpublished in-flight diary of astronaut Alan Bean, the book is replete with the personal recollections and experiences of the Skylab crew and those who worked with them in training, during the mission, and in bringing them safely home.

Ratings and reviews

Great book, but none of the images were present, just an annoying copyright notice. Also, many integers were replaced with a box, making many mentions of dates useless. 19xx isn't very useful in regards to a year. Things that are supposed to capitalized weren't, so "NASA" appeared as "nasa" throughout. With space lingo being littered with acronyms, this makes reading difficult. I'd recommend this book, but only on paper. The digital version was garbage.

The book itself is an excellent account of the history and operation of Skylab, which I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject. This edition does have some faults though. The original has some stunning images, which have been removed from this edition. Instead there is a place holder saying "copyright image removed by publisher". The second annoying thing is the number of typos when it comes to dates. Most dates given are missing the last digit of the year eg Moon landing in 196 .

AAA