a successful in its attempt to photograph the barium cloud created by the launch of a black Black Brandt IV rocket from Fairbanks Alaska.

The barium material weighing approximately 2 pounds was exploded into an orbit of 348 miles higher than the 348 miles high.

Skylab is about 235 nautical miles altitude.

This cloud exploded into the magnetic field ionized by the sun and the particles drifting from the magnetic field from Alaska all the way down to New Zealand.

Flight director, Don Puddy complimenting his flight controllers here at Mission Control Center following that successful operation.

He says, "Everything is going smooth. Keep up the good work."

Hello?

- Hello?
- Addy Addy.

I think you're putting the the bore casted in the bag now.

Say again?

I just saying that uh Bill told me earlier about setting there putting the the bore casted in the bags and I assume that's probably what you were doing for correction for Ed.

Oh, good old Bill did it all. He did it all. breaking down 183.
- Aha.

Okay.

Bill's our number one asset man.
- Aha.

That's a bad tag to get associated with.

Yeah, I help me out there. It was kind of tough to stop a man and enjoy that work.

I just wanted to get the the ATM panel, that's all.

And uh Bill I up here in the command module and I got a real good view of the common and the binoculars now.

Okay, we got that.

Got a very prominent tail.

State Highways director of Washington said top highway officials across the country were opposed to President Nixon's suggestions of maximum limit of 55 mph for trucks and buses, and 50 mph for autos.

He said a poll of highway administrators in all states indicated virtually unanimous opposition to the two-vehicle limitation and support for a single speed limit for all vehicles.

In connection with the mileage of automobiles and things like this, we did a little calculating this evening and we found out that the workshop now in its 2867th rev is getting something like 285 miles per gallon.

per gallon of what?

Per gallon of RP1 and LH2 that were used for injection.

The US post, got you meant something else.
- We're keeping it straight here.

And CDR Houston have you had a chance to look at the LCGs yet?

I'm just in the process of getting after them now.

Okay. And the kind of things we were answers today and there's uh the fungus or the mildew growth.

We'd like to know the color and the size and distribution shape, motor and things like that and uh compare what you see with uh what you saw on mission day six uh after the EVA drying.

Okay, sure will.

And then we just want to re restore them and then and we we'd like to get there if possible by the Nanary because we're holding up tomorrow's flight plan until we uh uh get the results of the inspection. If if it needs it, we're going to have to set up some sort of bio side routine for tomorrow.

Making final preparations now for the roll out of the Skylab rescue vehicle.

At 6:33 just a few minutes ago they started uh jacking the transporter underneath the mobile launcher began jacking up.

It will lift the uh mobile launcher with the Skylab on top of it, approximately 2 ft so that it can clear the lugs and be ready to move out of the vehicle assembly building.

Skylab rescue vehicle is sitting on top that mobile launcher on its specially designed, specially built pedestal which is 127 ft tall, it is 127 ft above the launch platform.

This raises the Saturn 1B Skylab rescue vehicle up to a height where it can utilize the upper swing arms which were designed for the Saturn 5.

The crew of Gerald Carr, the crew commander, Ed Gibson, science pilot, and William Pogue, the pilot now having a successful final mission in Skylab.

The rescue vehicle will be taken out to the pad undergo its final preparations and uh then when we get to the point where Hypergols would be loaded, hypergolic propellants would be loaded aboard the vehicle a hold will be called and it will be in a standby position then as long as the Skylab 4 crew is is in orbit.

loss of signal through the Texas tracking station.

At the conclusion of this Earth resources pass over Central America.

Pilot Bill Pogue re reporting and malfunction lights in the S190 multispectral camera system. This is a six camera unit.

He was troubleshooting procedures were read up to Pilot Pogue by CapCom Musgrave, story Musgrave, however this this did not uh apparently did not solve the problem.

Reference to panel 110, that's the C and D panel at which uh Pilot Pogue was working. Uh panel 202 is a circuit breaker panel in the structural transition section a few feet from where the MDA uh few feet from where the Eref panel is in the STS section.

Pilot Pogue making the comment, it's too bad about these cameras, it was a nice pass as the spacecraft went over the hill out of range of Texas tracking station.

Now will will return to solar inertial attitude as the spacecraft crosses over the western portion of Brazil on this the 2947th revolution of Skylab.

This uh pass, the first uh geothermal pass uh in the mission.

Some of the PIs looking for data uh out of this pass include uh Jack Quade of the McKay School of Mine, University of Nevada.

Ira C Becktolt of the Argus Exploration Company.

Looking for hydrocarbon exploration in Chihuahua is Carlos Castilla Tahiro of the Mexican Institute of Petroleum in Mexico.

Looking for rock and soil type identification and mineral zone classification is Dr. Kenneth Watson of the USGS, survey.

Okie dokie, we're 1 minute from LOS.

We'll see you at Carnarvon in 40 minutes at 13:06.

Okay crew.

music played up uh courtesy of music submitted to the Mission Control Center from the German people with a Christmas message to the crew this morning.

Today is Santa Claus Day in Germany.

Roger Bruce uh get the CDR. I got a look at the Kahoutek standby.

Okay we're right here. We'd like to hear your comments.

Kill the squeal first.

Okay, I got a good look, my first good look at Kahoutek in several days uh out window number three, while uh uh we were in the attitude for uh SO 63.

I mentioned last night that I I had a vague impression of being able to see the the curve part of the tail as well as the straight.

Uh I was not able to to get that feeling as I was looking at it uh a few minutes ago.

The tail however is quite long, it's longer than I've seen out the Command Module window, and that reinforces reinforces my conviction that uh we were not seeing all of the comment out the Command Module window, that uh part of it was being occulted by the ATM solar panel.

Uh the uh the tail is getting quite visible now and uh is uh is indeed quite long.

I wouldn't even know how to go about giving you an estimate of how many degrees I would say it is.

But uh it's getting easier and easier to see.

Okay, how about if you hold your hand out at arm's length and compare the width of the the comet with the apparent width of your hand?

Or finger. That, I can't see out the window.

How about a finger?

It's down in the corner.

Uh today there was a little boy who came to the viewing room that was uh terribly worried about how Santa Claus was going to find you guys uh going round and round in the workshop.

And he also uh couldn't understand what Santa Claus was going to use as a chimney.

Well we got a spare chimney hanging off the side of this thing and uh all he's got to do is know how to make uh a good orbital rendezvous and we're in.

Well we're going to help him with that.

Hey, ticker we are experiencing the partial eclipse of the sun?

As a matter of fact, uh Bill we are. I think I was told earlier that it was going to be about a 10% eclipse, but I can find out real quick a little more about it.

Yeah we got a great big old full moon up there and all of a sudden started losing a hunk of it.

Roger in the bill, uh make sure the window that you're not looking out of are or make sure that we're leaving the wardroom window uh curtain closed uh during those 03 73 exposures.

But uh that is an eclipse of the moon that you're looking at.

Hey Cap, uh I'm sorry, maybe I've been inattentive and I didn't hear, but um I never did get your response yesterday about the appearance of moth eggs when they uh go into diapause.

Okay, I just been waiting for an appropriate time to uh come back with you on that.

Uh it so happens there are two vials of 500 eggs each. One labeled Tame and one labeled Wild.

Diapause refers to the hibernation uh I think cool Grip.

I do, I could do it. I know I can only get you once though.

I think that's at least two times.

Actually diapause refers to the hyper if if I could get procedures to quit laughing over here.

Hibernation cycle of a larva in the egg which uh lasts 6 to 9 months normally.

Before the hatching.

I can't believe it.

You want a flavor for Bruce, Grip?

I just hate to read it during your lunch.

Actually when they uh when the larvae hatch, they're about 3 millimeters long and appear white and hairy.

All right go ahead, grip. We're all ears.

Quite thinks I need help.

Well I'll take BioMed's word. He says they're 3 mm long and appear white and hairy.

He says they're primarily vegetarians. So, I don't guess you guys have got any worry.

But they may eat the remaining eggs.

And uh, since we've got no food for the the larva, they are going to die right die shortly.

Now in the wild file, there may be eggs of other insects, so uh, you might have to watch out for that such as was.

Since those eggs were uh gathered in the field rather than they grow in the laboratory.

Lots of luck.

Hey Grip, would you repeat all after uh the first file contains?

Good morning Right Handly.

Good morning.

How's everything up in the sky?

Doing fine. Just finished looking at Kahoutek. Uh it's getting longer and stronger.

That all good. Been going out trying to see it in the morning, haven't been able to do it with the naked eye yet.

Now Bill's been able to see it uh uh unaided for some time and I saw it a couple times out of the command module and hadn't seen it since until last night and this morning and uh you can see it again.

Very good. It's more difficult now to observe the comet. It, uh, it's coming up closer and closer to Twilight and as a result, Twilight uh brightening, uh the brightening of the atmosphere is interfering with viewing of the comet. It is still visible about two hours before sunrise every morning uh throughout the United States.

Okay, let me tell you about Comet Kohoutek. I got a chance to look at it the uh 19th before last, the 19th before last, and, uh, and, looking at it through the binoculars, I saw it around the tail of around 4 degrees. Yesterday I had estimated it to be around three degrees, and I did this by just comparing the field of view in the binoculars with something I could see inside and you know, measuring distances and angles and so forth, it came up to around 4 degrees. I estimated the length-to-width ratio of around 24, and that give you with the 2 to 3 degrees. And, again, all this is an eyeball. The uh it gets its fuller with around 3 whisps back, that is 2 to 3 to a degree back from the coma. The edges of the tail are very straight from those 3 whisps back, and at around 10 or so back it starts to fade away and gradually by 20 it's uh disappeared. I think a lot a lot of it is the dark adaptation. Now, the coma itself, relative to the tail, is uh relatively bright, and I cannot see nothing in the way of a a second tail, that is either a a bluish white tail anywhere. This one was primarily white, which I saw. I cannot identify a yellow as yet. A yellow tinge to it. It's primarily white. I could not see whether the uh coma itself was elliptical, I think we're a little bit too far out for that. However, uh since bringing it with yesterday uh the brightness area I think increased and uh as it moves in rapidly towards the sun, I guess it's now almost a a half a solar radius out and it's picking up speed moving fast. I expect in the next uh two or three days, we ought to see some dramatic changes and it's going to be pretty interesting from there on out.

Very good. Thank you for the excellent description, Ed. Science Pilot Ed Gibson gave a more thorough report on the comet, uh his observations of it said that it increased in length from about 3 degrees yesterday to 4 degrees today, which would indicate it's about 33% longer or it's growing a in the vicinity of about 2 million miles in length. The atmosphere is uh more or less cloudy or polluted. It's more and more difficult or less difficult to detect the length of the comet. The longest report given by ground observers is about 13 million miles for length, although it's expected that some comet material may be found back 50 to 100 or possibly even as far back as 200 million miles behind it. Photography has been taken by the Skylab crew. Uh, this sense materials that are located as far back as 200 million miles, but uh it's expected that they should be able to see something back at least 100 million miles behind it.

Houston, we have an announcement.

Go ahead.

We are pleased to announce the birth of our first moths. The attending physician, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue, described the status of the babies as alive, moving, but somewhat hairy. Their weights are zero, and their masses are very small. The first baby first one was born on day 348, sometimes in the middle of the in the middle of the afternoon. The physicians were caught off guard and did not have boiled water or newspapers on hand. At this time, there are five babies crawling over their potential brothers. The cover is not being removed since they are all of a wild breed. The physicians have delivered successfully several times, but not being suitably adapted to moth mothering, are ill-prepared to feed the little fellows. Houston, request advice.

I think Bob that looking for an answer now.
Ed, I'm not sure how I'm going to break this to you, but uh we really don't have any plans to to feed them.

Do we even have any old spider food left over?
At this point, we're not sure whether you owe us cigars or we owe you cigars.

In terms of I'm not convinced that this is all motion sickness either. Uh I think a lot of the head pulled us and and all that's got a whole lot to do with it, and I don't think that's motion at all. I think a lot could be digestion track all the way down. I think we're over-emphasizing this motion sickness a heck of a lot. I I think we're we got the monitors on, we better look around a little bit more and look for some other ideas because a guy with the insensitivity to motion that Bill's got, uh to have uh problems, I think uh uh there's something else involved here. People better start looking around a little more and get off this motion sickness kick.

I support that 100%. I think it's uh this is not meant to be critical, but I think the experimental design is aiming entirely in the wrong direction. They they got horse blinders on and they got themselves preprogrammed and they've closed their mind to some uh rather obvious avenues of approach. I can't I just disagree with the discipline that's involved in this experiment design.

You're thinking that there may be some other inputs uh toward uh towards sensing motion, such as the cardiovascular system and the like?

I think that the I do not know the story. I I don't know that much about it, but I think they have pre-programmed themselves and all their previous investigation has been in this one area and has had a little of degrees of very good success I guess, in treating motion sickness, but they got a new arena here, a completely uh new ball game, and darn it, they're going to have to stop open their mind again and start looking again. It it's they cannot adapt their previous investigation to this problem.

I think they probably are trying to trying to look at all those inputs, Bill.

I think the re- relocation of the fluids in your body, uh apparently there are some people, I would guess, that are a whole lot more sensitive to that than others. And I would uh be inclined to think that's got a lot to do with this sickness up here.

Yeah, we tend to agree with that also.

One other thing, story, I think we're really wasting a lot of good uh crew time here, doing this uh motion sensitivity.

Okay, uh we got your input on that.

Moving on to M171, if you don't have anything more on the uh M131. Now, we've got a lot of good data on there. You probably plotted some of that yourself. Uh, all of you are at least up to the preflight uh baseline ranges. In terms of uh efficiency and uh physical fitness, uh Ed is starting to improve uh beyond the physical condition that he had uh pre-flight. The vital capacity data is excellent. We're seeing a decrease of about 3 to 5% in vital capacity. And some good explanations for that are that you have a little more fluid and blood in the chest. If you had say 160 or 200 ccs of blood in the chest, uh this would not allow you to uh fill the chest with air. That's a good explanation for the decrease we're seeing.

Oh, logical, thank you, Story.

Uh, Roger, Hank. You remember about two weeks ago we were talking about the clunky-clunk noise down in the command module?
Yes.

It's not back, is it?
Yeah, it's back. You might have uh people check their data and see if uh just as you and I were talking about the uh Nikon camera for S233 it came back again. It uh wasn't as severe, you couldn't feel it as much as you could just hear it, and I wonder if the guys down there saw it on their data.

Okay, we'll take a look.
Apparently they saw it last time they confirmed that it was there and uh it's still with us.

Okay, is it still going on now or is it just happening in the It only lasts about a minute or so or maybe less.

Okay, and that was about the two minutes ago?

That's affirmative.

I'm down here in the command module doing checklist changes and I've spent I apparently spent enough time here for one cycle to hit us.

I'll tell you what it sounds like. If you've ever been in an earthquake before and you've heard the sound that go with an earthquake, that's what this sounds like, except you don't get the feel at all.

Roger, we copy. I've never had the dubious pleasure of being in an earthquake, however.

You got to live in California for a little while, Hank.

The only one I had while I was out there, I happened to be airborne at the time.

I looked over systems in the command module. I can't see a thing. There's uh no indications of any problem and it definitely feels like it's outside the the shell of the command module. I remember I suspected that maybe it was down in the service module.

Roger, we copy. Commander Carr, I believe it was, said that uh sounded a little like a dozen an earthquake, although he couldn't feel any movement. That clunky-clunk had been reported before and this time there is uh live telemetry on it and no doubt all of the systems operators here will be taking a closer look to see if they can figure out why it makes the strange noise.

Good morning, how are things going up there today?

Oh, we're just getting through the post-sleep activities, uh measuring ourselves up, finding out how much we're growing.

All right, it sounds like we got a new business going, people taller up there.

That's what it's turning out to be. We just keep on eating and growing.

Maybe you find the fountain of youth, do you think?

We only got 85 days to test it.

Aha.

Hello, Hank.
Hello there.

Ed, looking at the uh Comet, at this last startup, the command module window one is the much better way to go. Uh, I was able to see the tail quite far back. Uh, the Coma had gotten a lot uh uh higher in intensity and much larger than I've seen it uh about a week ago when I uh looked at it in detail. I always the only was able to see one tail, however, uh strictly uh gas tail, driving to you. Dust tail going straight back, very wide, uh the Coma itself is become uh quite a bit larger and the tail just uh picked up that size and goes straight back. I think uh window one is the one to uh follow it from here on out.

Okay, we copy.

Okay, Ed and uh, if you guys are uh uh near the uh one of the speaker boxes, I'd like to read to you a Christmas message.
Go ahead, we're all present.

All present in the cannon for, huh? Okay, to Jerry, Ed, and Bill, "We have been watching and listening with admiration and with awe as you have settled down to a routine of life in space. Mankind is gaining fundamental knowledge each day as a result of your activities, your observations of the sun, the earth, and the Comet Kohoutek, and from your reports of your own adaptation to the space environment. As we approach the holiday season, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a happy New Year," signed James C. Fletcher and George M. Low. And uh we're uplinking a copy of this so you can hang it on your Christmas tree.

Thank you kindly. That'll be Christmas card number two.

Roger and Christmas ain't even over yet.

Right.

Yeah, appreciate the good work, Dick. Have a very Merry Christmas, too.

Roger, Ed, will do.
Thank you, Dick. Uh George is a good man, and so is Dr. Fletcher, and Merry Christmas to them both and to everyone.

Roger, thank you very much. We'll pass it on.

Skylab, this is Houston, through the Vanguard on station off the coast of Argentina this morning. Support your EVA. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas for real this time since uh all the way we've been wishing you a Merry Christmas for a couple of days, today is a day. Over.

Morning Bruce, Merry Christmas to you.

And uh we got a a couple of little messages uh should be showing up in your teleprinter uh I guess they're there right now for you.

No rush.

Thank you.

That story, we just crossed in the uh Southeast coast of Australia.

That's firm.
Yeah, Tasmania down there, I think.

Good heel on the cap, he far away.
Right.

What's new in New Zealand?

I got a turn around here at the redneck for a little bit. Yeah, it's a great time for it. Don't get to do this often enough.

Holy cow. What a view.

I've got an L-band I reading line clearing through to and re for 5 minutes.
Roger, we just opened the OWS hatch.

Oh, sweet home.
Yes, sir.

Okay.

Okay, Stewart.
Okay, Bill, I'm down.

All righty, on my way.

Excuse me.
Christmas tree coming up on your left.

Yeah, I'm going to say hi. I'm just going around.

Okay, is my umbrella so clear?
Yep, it's clear.

And we got a feeling for how hungry you are, if you have any trouble finding that fruitcake in 82 locker behind the film vault, it's wrapped in foil and also stored in clear plastic, maybe that'll help you find it.
Okay, thank you, Story. I'm looking forward to that.

The crew of Skylab 4, Gerald Carr, science pilot Ed Gibson, and Bill Pogue now in their 40th day in space, establishing a Skylab record today, spending 7 hours outside their orbiting space station in the longest weightless work session in the Skylab program.

Hey Hank, there really is a Santa Claus.
Thanks, your Phantom.
Yeah, that rascal left us some goodies.
How about that?

Oh, gaily wrapped with Christmas paper and ribbon and the whole bit.

Yeah, I was a little puzzled the other night when you called down and said you had one present to put under the tree and then I I was a little puzzled why why you said only one.

Yeah, we didn't even see this other one. It was laid right back in the pouch and and it didn't pop out when the other one did, we didn't look in it for any more.

I really don't think it was here before today, someone must have put it there.
Then it was a midnight skulker.

Roger, Hank, uh, tell my wife I'm delighted with my present and you're authorized to give her one hug.

Okay, I'll take up on that.

No more, just one.

And I guess from our view point you guys did a real great job there today.
Thanks a lot Hank, we appreciate it.
Uh, Hank, how about passing the word along to Helen that I got the present, I appreciate it very much.
Okay, I'll do that, Bill.

Hey Hank, same for me and, uh, tell her what time to go double.
Okay.

Hey Hank, no hugs are authorized though.
Okay, I copy.

From the monitoring at 8:35 Central Standard Time the crew will reach the halfway point in the scheduled 84-day mission.
The space station will be over the South Atlantic Ocean at this time, at 8:35 Central Standard Time.
At that point the space station, the crew will have made 607 trips around the Earth, logging 17,650,000 miles in space since their launch from Cape Kennedy on November 16th.
The space station however will have logged 3,292 revolutions of the Earth, or 95,760,000 miles since launch from Cape Kennedy on May 14th.
Ground controllers continue to review data from the Christmas Day EVA and preparations for upcoming Saturday EVA, devoted exclusively to Comet Kohoutek photography.

Skylab crew passed the halfway point in the planned 84-day mission this morning at 8:35:46, Greenwich uh, that's Central Standard Time AM.
Earlier this morning the comet also passed its midway point in its journey at uh, passed the closest approach to the sun earlier this morning and that's on its way away from the sun at this point.

Uh standing in for the other Kohoutek PIs, we have Dr. Kohoutek, the discoverer of the comet, and he'd like to ask you a few questions when you're ready, over.

Uh Roger Houston, we're ready to go.

Good afternoon, Dr. Kohoutek.
Good afternoon. I am very glad to have an opportunity to following the comet 1973 F during its most critical day during its perihelion passage and from the place where most research of the comet is concentrated. Especially it is a great pleasure for me to greet you, Mr. Gibson, Mr. Carr and Mr. Pogue, as the first human being studying a comet from outer space. Your mission is indeed a very important one in astronomy. I have following questions. Uh, you observed the comet visually last Sunday and Monday. You compared it with uh, in brightness with Mercury and suggested that there were color features in the coma. Do you have anything more to say on those observations?
Uh not too much to add to that, so because uh we have not seen much of the comet visually since those last observations. Uh the one time in which I was the one who observed the color, uh I have not seen the comet since. Uh the next time I saw the comet was uh on the uh SO52 white light coronagraph.
Oh yes. Oh yes. And how about the tail for example?
Uh the tail we have found uh as it becomes more foreshortened to us became much wider and uh let me, let me give you the figures that are relative to the display we have on the ATM. I would say that the uh, the coma, the bright coma was approximately uh 3/16, 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch in diameter. And uh I would say that the tail that we could see however foreshortened uh extended only about 1/4 inch away from the coma and uh spread like a fan to approximately 3/8 of an inch at its outermost end.
Uh have you glimpsed to the comet since Monday, I mean visually?
No sir, we have not.
Um how is the brightness changing from day to day? Uh you are the only people you see this comet at present and therefore, your information is very valuable.
Well, uh unfortunately we are not able to see it by eye, we can only tell by what we see on the white light coronagraph display. That uh display has indicated that the brightness certainly is increasing. The display itself has a uh filtering function which uh allows the, allows you to see the corona much better so that it's a factor of 100 from the uh edge of the occulting disk all the way out to the edge uh of the display. So, we were only able to see it at the very beginning very close to the edge of the display. Now we can see it pretty much right up next to the uh fairly close to the occulting disk so I'm sure we're at least up a factor of 10 from that when we first saw it and perhaps greater than that.
Yes. Uh, thank you very much for most interesting talk. Uh let me congratulate you upon the accomplishment you have achieved uh so far and wish you the best of success in your further observations and flawless splashdown in February. Thank you very much.
Dr. Kohoutek, on behalf of the Skylab 3 crew, I'd like to tell you that we're honored to have this opportunity to speak to you, sir, and we'll do our best to get the best data we possibly can. Good day, sir.

Story, we may have brought an itch in our head but our suits have...
Okay, Jer, uh, that's a confirmation of uh what we saw in the antroperimetric data.
And uh most of that growth uh from the middle on up to the shoulders.
That's right, where it feels like, Story.
Okay.
That's spring loaded to engage.
Locked?
Right.
Channel going open.
Only clockwise. Dogs are retracted.
Okay, that thing worked. You move back a little bit, Jer.
Okay. I can pull that repainer in the in the hatch.
Okay.
There it is, the great outdoors again. Right.

It worked.
Hey, I can see the comet.
Yeah, look at right out there. See it?
Okay, I can see the uh the tail behind. Holy cow, yeah. Hey, uh turn the light off, Bill.
Oh yeah, beautiful.
Sure can.
Skylab, we're enjoying your comments for 30 seconds from LOS here by 28 minutes to Canarv and at 18:03, all your systems are good.
Okay, okay. We can see the tail, which is anti-solar but I cannot see the spikes which showed up yesterday on the photography.
Okay, it's just going into the airglow now. Just going into the airglow.
Very wide, broad tail. Not very long as well but, good what was we can see. We were not too well adapted there. Jer we'll have to make a note of that next time.
Yeah.
Okay, that tail, I guess uh I was looking at 5 degrees or so when I first spotted it.
Okay, it's into the airglow now.
I suspect that's the reason you couldn't see it the other day is because it was always in the airglow.
Yeah. We got a better elongation now.
I suspect you ought to see that out the window. I looked at that yet looked before yesterday out uh window 3 and couldn't see it.
Okay, let's burst over it. Can you turn the light on?
Good morning Skylab. You guys still on top of the world today?
Good morning Crib. Yeah, we're still around.
Very good. The uh the song was dedicated to you from your daughter there, Jer.
Roger, that's great.

on your early day off.

We are so good again. We have a question?
We'll save it for you for another good time.

Did you like the one better yesterday?

I don't know. It wasn't this morning. Pretty catchy too.
Got a good beat.

Get your rhythm and percussion, man.

I'm but I thought you've been up there too long, Jeff.

As you're undoubtedly aware, this is the the first Skylab 4 live news conference. I have a list of questions here which have been prepared uh by the news representatives to the the Johnson Space Center working through their news media pool. I'll be reading them off to you verbatim and in the order that's requested by the newsmen, over.

Okay, we're ready to go.

Okay, first question for you, Jerry. You are past the halfway point now. What have been the flight's main accomplishments? And do you feel you'll go the full 84 days, over?

The flight's main accomplishments I think have been the the accomplishment of the EVAs. I think one of the prime accomplishments was to get the S193 running. We're real happy we got that going and that certainly does enhance the Earth Resources situation. Uh we've got a second load of film in for the ATM work, and we have our outside Ka-hutec observation done, right close to perihelion. I think those are really some of the main mileage milestones that we had to look forward to.

What does the crew hope to accomplish in the second half of the mission, over?

Oh, yes. Uh, the second half of the mission, what we hope to accomplish. We want to continue the observations, of course, the Apollo Telescope mount, and we will be shortly resuming the intensified observations with our Earth Resources instrument, and we also have a large number of corollary experiments and educational experiments, or student experiments, which we hope to complete. I think that some of the major maintenance activities are out of the way. Uh we shortly will be concluding the most intensified portion of the commentary observations, and that will be behind us. We'll be concentrating on the Apollo Telescope Mount and the Earth Resources.

Okay, for Ed, while staring out the window, you've remarked about visualizing life on other worlds. Uh please elaborate, and have your feelings been heightened by this flight, over?

Okay, Bruce. And to the folks who came up with this question, actually, this is one I guess which would make a lot of people raise their eyebrows. And what I said at the time was that it makes you speculate perhaps a little bit more in your own mind, because you're much more conscious of the many different star systems that there are out there. When you're looking out here, you see the Earth as as one unit. You see the sun as a star, and you see all the other stars out there, and you realize that the universe is quite big, and just the number of of possible combinations that you can have out there which can create life, all of a sudden enters your mind and makes it seem very much more likely. I don't think that that is any different than people have thought down on the ground. It's just that being up here and being able to see the stars as you can and look back at the Earth and see your own sun as a star, makes you much more conscious of that.

All right, you, thank you, Ed. Back to Jerry. You've said you're keeping notes on your impressions of the Earth. What are some of these impressions, over?

Well, I think the most startling impression to me I've always thought of the Earth as a very green and verdant planet, and when you're going over some of the desolate areas we've seen, I suddenly have gotten a very strong impression. As I mentioned in the Christmas message, is that I've become aware of all the desolate areas there are around the Earth, and it's become apparent to me that man has kind of huddled in just a few corners of the Earth, that the Earth is really a whole lot bigger than we thought. And I tried in my Christmas message there to kind of compare our impressions, or my impressions anyway, with those impressions of the Apollo crews, they said the Earth is very small, and the fact that man has to stay in the temperate areas and really work in his environment kind of makes me feel that we're going to have to spur on our efforts to really get in tune with our environment.

Roger on that. Back to Ed. Some earlier Skylab crewmen have reported brief periods of irritation with one another. Has there been any sign of this on your flight, over?

No, I don't think so, Bruce. I think all three of us have been pretty much up against the same things and we're cooperating in trying to get the best out of the mission and and meeting those various obstacles that we come up with. So I think you must have got well, and I think we're really proud of that fact.

All right, Roger. We've got about 52 seconds still on our list here. Let me throw one more out as we go over the hill to you, for all three of you. Aside from your families, what do you miss most about being away from the Earth, over?

I think good food. An ability to eat any time you want to. I miss that. I think what I miss is going right back to Jerry's point, the ability to to recoup at the end of the day and to be able to analyze where you're going the next day and to be able to take a really fresh, creative approach and the things you're doing.

I think essentially, that's what I miss the most, too. I miss the opportunity to just sit down and and relax and, of course, with my family at home, while I can come home and just take it easy and be with them. I miss football, and I miss a good cold can of beer while I'm watching the game.

And if you guys have got a little little time, the boss likes to talk to you for a minute.

For him, we've got the time.

Okay, Jerry, guys, good morning. I've got the honor of congratulating you guys on transitioning from the first rookie crew since early Gemini to the second most veteran crew in the solar system. I was about to say universe, but I don't think we can prove that. As of about 3 minutes ago, you guys surpassed Pete Conrad's record in time, which it took him four flights to accumulate. So if that doesn't make you veterans, nothing will. You're about 5/8 of the way through the mission rough and dirty, and as far as we're concerned down here, you're doing an outstanding job all the way. We're really happy with the way the mission's going. I think we've probably sandbagged you on a couple of occasions on schedule that you're aware of. As far as the future is concerned, Dick gave you a pretty good rundown on the misrates, etc., the other evening. I want to enlarge on those. I guess it's my opinion that we will probably have more trouble keeping you busy in the future than the other way around. We'll make every effort to ensure that it doesn't go either way, however. Just keep up the good work up there. Stay and enjoy it. I think if you keep going the way you've been going, why, it will be one of the best missions we've ever seen.

Well, thanks a lot. We sure appreciate hearing from you and those things did get a little rough there at the beginning. We feel pretty good now, look kind of looks like we've really smoothed out and I think that we'll probably do some real fine work.

You bet. You've been doing great work. Keep it up.

Thanks a lot, Dick. Those are real good words and nice to hear them.

Thanks, Dick. We sure appreciate it. Good hearing from you.

Okay, I know you're having a lot more fun up there than we are down here. So stay with it.

Roger that.

Okay, we copy, Ed. And sometime when you get a chance, I'd like to talk to you a little bit more about the 61 and 62.

Not a good time, please. Go ahead.

Okay. I'm being told that the root always emerges first. It's going to be colorless, and we're aware, so, and we'll also uh then begin to develop root hairs. And it doesn't say they're white and hairy, but I assume they are. Also, that the the stem emerges as an in rolled leaf in a thin membrane and will turn green uh in a few hours after it emerges.

Okay, thank you, Crip. I guess what I'm looking at then are the roots. About uh all about a third of them or so have emerged, and I put it on tape this morning.

Okay, very good.

We're going to be turning over to the Crimson team after this pass. And you guys have been awarded a prestigious award. And if you can listen here for a second, I'd like to advise you.

Go ahead, Dick.

Okay. First of all, I'd like to say that the reason you have been awarded this is because this last set of execute shifts that the Purple gang has worked with you have everyday has gone so great. We're going to be off for a couple of days. It reads as follows: the fraternal order of one armed paper hangers in recognition of your efforts on SL4 and particularly of the last week have elected you collectively, one armed paper hangers of the year, and I'd like to describe the award to you. It's a large picture of a guy who's hanging paper on the side of the MDA. One foot is working the ATM. He's doing a couple of car laries with the other foot, and he's saying to himself, let's see, do I give up sleeping and eating to get this stuff done? Or do I tell the Purple flight to shove it? Hmm, Purple flight is pretty big. I wonder if I can outrun him. Oh well, I'm tired of the high density food anyway, and these sleep constraints sure ain't featherbed, so I guess I'll go ahead and work and it'll be sitting on your desk when you get home.

Thanks a lot, Dick. We'll look forward to retrieving it.

We're all deeply moved, Dick.

Roger. It really has been a good set of days though, and we'll see you when we get back.

Thank you, Dick. Thanks for all your help. So long. Have a good time off.

Incidentally, earlier today, Phil's fighter said to pass along that the eight-month warranty had run out on the vehicle. So y'all be careful with it. We aren't going to call it back.

What's the blue book value on an eight-month-old vehicle that doesn't use any gas?

That'd probably be a big seller.

CDRH Houston, sometime this afternoon, I'd like to get back to the case of the butter cookies with you. I have a couple of questions for, I can answer your question directly.

Go ahead, Dick.

Yeah. Okay. First of all, of course, the butter cookies appear on your on your menu Q-cards with an asterisk on them, and we think that the butter cookies on board are just enough to satisfy that requirement. However, we'd like you to verify in locker F563 uh in the rear of it, we think that there are some small cans numbered 22-26 through 22-32, and you might have a look in there, and we'd like to verify that those butter cookies have been removed. If they have been removed, then the answer is there are no overage ones. If there are any in those cans and the numbers, again, were 22-26 through 32, then those would be overage, over.

Okay. I'm pretty sure we got those out, but I'll check. That locker again was 67.

Well, Dick, I guess I need my sad music for this report.

Go ahead.

Well, there aren't any more butter cookies, I guess, and I guess by this time tomorrow, it'll be in withdrawal.

Roger. Understand. Would you like to pass any special message to Beam's crew and Conrad's crew on the subject?

I don't have anything but Ed might.

Okay, well, sorry about that. I'll have to give him a sedative tomorrow night.

Okay, take care of it.

ILT Houston, when you get a chance, no hurry, like to speak to you for a second.

Go ahead, Dick.

Roger, Bill. All your friends down here on the Purple gang would like to wish you a happy birthday this morning. We sure hope you have a nice day and I've got a special message on tape that I think you'll enjoy hearing.

Well, thanks, Purple gang. That's a gas.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Bill. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Bill. Happy birthday to you.

For he's a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellow. Which nobody can deny.

Happy birthday, Bill. You're not getting older, you're getting better. Hang in there.

Hey, Dick, that's really great. I wish I could hug them all.

I know you do, Bill. Happy birthday to you.

Thanks again.

The expectation here in Mission Control is that with or without CMG number two, the mission will be completed. And uh a splashdown on February 8th is still anticipated. And as a initial bit of information, one of the prime topics of discussion during the last half hour here in Mission Control has been the meals for day 84 and day 85, that is to say for February 7th and 8th, the final days of the Skylab mission, and there's been a good deal of discussion about what the menu should consist of during those final days. Uh some changes being made to the food plans for the February 7th and February 8th days. So, uh concern is not particularly high here about an immediate shortening of the mission. However, uh as we have indicated before, the ship will be sailing on January 26th to give us optimum capacity for recovery in the event of other failures that are not yet anticipated. This anomaly on CMG number two is still underway at 1854 Greenwich mean time as we went over the hill at Bermuda. The anomaly is the longest seen so far on CMG number two, began at 5:35 this morning GMT. That's means that it's been going on now for about 13 and a half hours. However, there has not been any sign of worsening and if anything, over the US, I think we saw some indications that perhaps there is a recovery underway. Although the wheel speed has not yet come up, the currents have come down slightly. Uh that's an indication that they may be returning to normal, although this is certainly one of the longest and uh in many ways, most serious of the CMG anomalies.

The Skylab crew will begin their 1,000th revolution of the Earth at Greenwich Mean Time 19 hours and 43 minutes, 17 minutes from now. The crew will also set a record tomorrow morning at 12:46 AM on January 25th, when they match Al Bean's record of 69 days, 15 hours, 49 minutes. Al Bean's record, the combined total of his Apollo 12 flight and the mission of Skylab 3. Well, while we're looking up this storage in flow, I've got an item I'm sure you'll be interested in.

Fire away, Dick.

Roger, uh you three guys, last evening at a time of 0546 Zulu, became the undisputed world space champions. You passed uh Al Bean's total flight time record, and uh that record was 69 days, 15 hours, 45 minutes, and 29 seconds. So, congratulate We're the Purple gang is very happy to be the guys that get to congratulate you as the undisputed space champs of the world.

Thanks very much, Dick, and Purple team. And thanks very much for keeping us up there. Good work.
Dick, thanks a lot. You know, records are made to be broken and I'm sure sooner or later, someone will break this one.

I'm sure you're right, Jerry, but I think it's going to be a while, so congratulations to all three of you guys.

Thanks a lot, Purple people.
Roger. And if all of you are within earshot of a speaker box, I've got a message for you.

Right on, Bruce.

Okay, I quote. Congratulations on breaking the last remaining man space flight duration record and especially for the outstanding work you've done and are continuing to do in the fields of space science, space applications, and in learning about man's reaction to space. Keep up the good work. See you soon. End quote. Signed James C. Fletcher and George M. Low, over.

Roger, Bruce. Now we copy, and we thank you very much for the kind words, and uh we want to thank everybody in the green who's been helping us. We certainly uh needed a lot of help and we've received it. Thank you.

Okay, and we're all looking forward to seeing you back here in the not too far distant future.

We're certainly looking forward to being back there. I can tell you that.
Have an announcement from the Skylab Program Office. Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider today reported that the third Skylab mission, now in its 70th day, has been given a seven day extension. Approval for the record-breaking mission to continue at least until, until at least January 31st, followed review of the inflight medical data and the recommendation of Dr. Charles A. Berry, NASA Director for Life Sciences, and an evaluation of Skylab's consumables and hardware status. That concludes the announcement uh clearing Skylab for the coming seven days.

Okay, uh we have a number of of things here that uh we've learned that you might find interesting. Probably the most relevant one seems to be a uh a tendency for the coronal holes at the poles to be biggest when the magnetic fields in the southern hemisphere Well, so the magnetic fields in that hemisphere are of the same sign as the uh polar field and they tend to be smaller when uh it's of opposite sign and there's a filament channel. So if the South Pole has a strong polar cap today, we uh would uh guess that uh the magnetic field not far from it has a minus polarity, black on these pictures that we have down here, and uh we did notice a few days ago when this uh coronal hole that you're talking about today here is the here the Southwest limb when that was more or less disc centered and apparently almost connected to the South Pole. There was a large negative magnetic field region more or less uh centered along the the central Meridian and in the southern hemisphere approaching the Pole. What does that say about the construction of a coronal hole itself and how it originates? I think it's consistent with this diverging magnetic field idea. In other words, the field uh magnetic field in the coronal hole is a diverging magnetic field. And uh why that makes it dark there, I don't ask me. The field strengths have been observed to be relatively low though in the center of the hole. More or less on the average. Pretty much vertical and and low. Far as I know.

Couple of other things that we are going to do uh while you're still there. Is we're going to operate the ATM thermal control system uh the secondary system, which we've never used in Skylab, and then we're going to restart the primary system uh to take a look at the restart characteristics. Uh in conclusion, although we have no firm plans for any revisit to Skylab at the moment, we're going to have to you put together a uh what we're calling a revisit bag which could be retrieved by any revisit crew to bring home so we could take a look and uh how the items have survived uh the long-term and the vacuum that they'll be seeing. Uh you'll be getting a message on this. We've got it on the tubes down here tonight. We'll probably uh get that message up to you uh this evening and that will allow you to put your together Skylab's own little time capsule to stick an MDA and leave. We're not planning to uh schedule this item. We figure you can just do this uh on your own time.

Let her rip.
Roger, the first uh question, Jerry, is for you for Commander Carr. What do you feel have been the major accomplishments of this mission and have you proven that man can pretty much do as he wants to in space considering working, living, and repairs?

Uh I think the major accomplishments uh in this uh particular mission are uh are several. I think the biggest major accomplishment is the uh uh the tenure, the the length of the stay. We've shown that man can uh do what we thought it could do and that is come up here and and set up housekeeping in space. That um he can adjust to his new environment. And I think from a medical standpoint, the medical experiments have already shown uh so far that uh uh we right now appear to be in better physical condition than when we left. And um I think the other accomplishments are uh in particular and I'll probably get an opportunity to talk about it, but in the solar area, I think the fact that we managed to catch the full rise of a solar flare is a significant uh event. The fact that we caught the brightest coronal transient that's been seen from up here, I think is significant. In the area of Earth resources, we have uh uh done nearly 45 Earth resources passes around the Earth. Uh we've gathered a heck of a lot of data and I think that is indeed significant. And last but not least, we took the time before we left to do some study on on how to do Earth observations from out the window, and to handheld photography. Let me add a couple things on there. Um we also had I think quite an extensive comet observing program. And uh although the brightness of the comet was not what we predicted, I think the all-out effort which uh people all around the world put on it and, particularly up here where we were able to make a large number of attitude excursions of the vehicle and point at the comet while learn something of its spectra which is going to tell us what it's composed, I think is a very significant achievement. This uh next question is for Bill Pogue. Now that your mission is almost over, do you feel disappointed about any aspect of your flight?

Well, I don't think so, really. I think that we feel like as as as everyone already been said here, we feel like that we've done very well in spite of some of the uh adverse circumstances. Looking back, uh couple of things we mentioned in particular, with the repair of the uh primary coolant loop which was conducted and uh completed earlier in our flight, carrying on from what Ed said from the earlier flight, so that was a major repair job and represented a task that had not been done before. We also have worked outside the EVA and made two major uh mods or repairs, uh sort of combination of the two, on one of the radar antennas, which was a part of the Earth Resources package, and then also on the Apollo telescope mount when one of those telescopes was malfunctioning. So uh by and large, I think that uh we have although we would have liked to maybe that everything working 100% in view of the fact that it wasn't, we've done very well in spite of that fact, and we feel like that we'll be bringing back the best data possible for the situation that existed when we got here. You guys have been in space longer than anyone before. What psychological and mental problems do you foresee for space travelers on very long flights to say Mars?

Uh I think probably the psychological problem that you would probably face on a mission that long would be the same kind of psychological problems you get uh up North in the winter when you're locked in the cabin for months or uh on an island. Island fever, cabin fever, that sort of thing. That is the the lack of the ability to uh get away. Uh you're stuck with the surroundings and there's not a whole heck of a lot you can do about changing your surroundings. And so what you need to design into future spacecraft that are going to do things like go to Mars is you're going to have to design lots of uh of uh ways to divert yourself. Uh uh recreation, uh reading, uh things like that. You got you got to be able to uh as we say in the flying game, you got to be able to close the hanger doors when you go home. And when you're on a year or two year mission, you're going to have to have a place that you can call home and you going to have to be able to go to that and be by yourself or do what you want to do and uh I think that's probably the major psychological problem we're going to have to work out. I think the submariners understand this too. The guys who spend 30 to 60 days underwater most certainly do understand this problem too, and they're working at as well as we are.

Ah, that's all I got. And I wanted to pass you some thanks from Noah and the back room for the help that you've given them and their solar forecast with your unique data.

Well, we sure appreciate the the Noah folks and matter of fact, um I think we appreciate the work of everybody involved in this that we've kind of reached a uh the end of a phase here if you will in ATM. We still have a major phase left and that's the all the data analysis of the over the years. We're going to see a lot of that uh turning into some pretty uh I think productive and useful results and a lot of understanding of the sun will result. I think the quality and the quantity of the data that we've gotten out of ATM has uh far exceeded our early expectations. They certainly have myting. I'm sure they have other people. Uh the quality of the data that we're getting out, however, I think is uh I a direct result of the quality of the people that we've had working on. We've had about uh I would guess uh thousands of people working this uh ATM for many years now, and the results are going to get me a large step forward in our understanding of the sun. I think everybody that's been involved in it should take pride in what is really their accomplishment. I know the three of us up here certainly have uh I'm happy to be a part of it and we thank uh everybody on down there on the ground for giving us uh excellent support during the mission.

Okay, Ed. Thanks for the words and we certainly want to thank the three of you for the excellent job that you've done. The uh quality of data that we'll be getting back is due in no small part to the work that you three guys have done.

Hey, Ed, look. There's the whole of San Joaquin Valley over there. It. All right. The Sierras, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Salton Sea. Yeah. Beautiful. Oh yeah. So, we're out over Arizona probably. Flagstaff. I can see the Grand Canyon from in here. Yeah, there it is. Lake Powell. Let's take a look at that Garlick fall. See if I runs a lot on that a little bit too far out to the west of us. Yeah, you can't get good definition, can you? Uh-huh, not from here. Beautiful. We sure got a pretty country, Houston. That it is. Okay, back to the salt mines. Okay, now.

And we're just about over Salt Lake City right now.

Okay, hold on, I'm trying to get this thing lined up, and until you get the sun one, still Dak on. Foxtrot 5 after 10 stow hook, below close line, and lock.
Below close line. Well, still Dak on F5, after temporary storage hook. I think that should uh, probably tell you where to put it. We close line of reference, but it's below the close line. I'll lock it. Well, right.
I'm having trouble visualizing it myself. Well, but the problem is we don't have the close line uh, hooked up down to the U of D right now on there? You want to uh, put it together on there? Yeah, I sure better. Make sure I didn't miss anything. Okay, well that's the that's the point. Do we want to get going on the close line or do we want to go TO 25? You've got about another 17 minutes until the window opens for TO 25, so you can time it accordingly. We feel you're pretty well set up already. And uh, all right. You need to put the close line on my right wrist. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to re- Okay, watch yourself now. Take care and keep a low profile. Right. Do you want me to read the settings to you, Ed? Uh, just a second until uh, till we get set here because I want to have you read them again. Watch your left foot has got the close line. Yeah, okay. Okay, you want to move uh, I need to put the close line on my wrist. Okay, let me take a look at your uh, umbilical. I got to anchor myself. I think you're going to have to come back, too. You got to put the close line around the other side. I'll I'll do it down there. All right. All right. Now, I'll just hang here until you're ready. All right. I'm going to move the close line back under the restraining hook here. Okay, let's hear the good words on the friendly deck there, Bill. P8 RF8 Well, hold on, we've got to move the friendly deck up to a location. Okay. 181, remove DAK and attach to VS close line hook and lock. Same, what you wanted? Attach the DAK to the close line. That's what it said. You've been reading the words on the on the DAK. I don't know quite what all you wanted. I figured you just wanted the setting, but it also has that in there, too. So, you can see those uh ball canning south of San Quetin. You put the put it. Glad to be coming back to it. Get that again? And we work the close line storage, it worked out uh pretty swift. No, no real uh hang ups with it at all. Now, am I loose now? Yeah, you're okay. Okay. What I had to do was uh give you a little more play on the close line itself. Yeah, I thought it was kind of calling me back to the type. Uh, Transfer VS close line to VBC. Connect VS, is it, does this make sense? No. We all, they know what you're saying, just press on in a hurry, Bill. Connect the VS close line hook to right glove, release hook from VS close line, connect VC close line hook together. Restow, re-close line bracket straight to the VS close line. That's all for DV2. Right. Press. Okay. Uh, if this EB1 assist, and then move, come to uh clip these. Is the EB1 clip, VC close line under clip on F5. EB2 is LSU close line. That's true. DT and BS Ops. Close line to back bracket. Good unit. Same problem. I get a safe steam diamond in there. Yeah. To lock in place. It's locked. Attach close line hook to bracket and lock hook. Okay. Boy, that thing is strong. We could send the workshop over parallel to the ATM with that thing. Find hook to bracket, lock hook is done. Straight and close line, done. Rotate base link until locked. Okay, that's in work. You know, Jerry? It's locked. Ooh, locked. Good. Okay. I hate to tell you this, but uh the close line from point-to-point describes the perfect straight line through T 25. Right. I'm going to have to really be careful of that. Yep. DAK and attach the VS close line hooks and lock. I think I will take close line first. I'm going to leave the wrist tether on it, Jerry. You may need it. Okay, good. Okay, transfer the DAK to the DT. Tell you what else let's do. Let's uh, I'll hook the two close line hooks together. Or we're going to be hurting for a slack to work around here. Yes. This uh, extravehicular activity appears to be going well. The crew is now uh making preparations uh, hooking up the transportation device, the close line, making preparations to go up and retrieve the SO82A and SO82B film. Okay, come on, friendly deck, hang DAK to close line and lock, transfer DAK to the TF, remove DAK and attach to and uh, Ed. Jerry, after you've gotten all the required DAK there, go ahead and shoot it up. Take anything you'd like. Oh, beautiful. Okay. I thought maybe I had some other plans later. No, we thought you'd like that. That's neat. Tell you what, Jerry, won't you uh save a little for uh, coming from this angle and we can get you working uh, the sun and the trees. I think that's a good idea. How about you, if you got a chance, come and stick your nose in the window right there by the pass, see if we can get your shining face. Ah. For the sharpness, I guess, that clear. Oh, that's it, Bill. My son is in my eyes, is the only thing. Put on your dark glasses and look casual. Okay, can you see me now? I have my eyes closed. Yes. You're beautiful. I'll look down this way. Okay, let me get it turned on. Okay. There you go. Wave your fingers a little bit. Beautiful. Stick your head in a little further. Oh, specialty to mill. That's great. Got your choppers and everything. That's right. All right, I'm going to come over here and pan down the busted side of the workshop, hey, because I'll tell you this is a beautiful view looking down the axle to the vehicle with the solar panel on the earth and the background. Hey, there's our ice island, and hey, look at the blooming. Hey, you know that blooming leads right over to the ice island. Yeah, do you see South Georgia Island around there anywhere? Uh, yeah, I think I see it under clouds, yeah. Hey Story, we've got all the samples taken and uh we're just finishing up the Nikon work and uh, we'll be all set to start packing it all back into the airlock. You better start pulling in my umbilical, head. Uh-oh, well, I better get down there where I can do it. Get my warm young tender big little bod down in there. Yeah, I think we've got a few pieces of gear hanging around there. We sure do. Let me just unhook. Better. Hey, the safety was not made just to avoid hang-ups. Can you see me, Jerry? Yeah. Okay. What and what am I hanging up on this one? Well, the close line. And what part of me is hanging up? Your whole backside. If someone ever told me we'd be working in this environment two or three years ago, I would have said they were crazy. No way. Okay, Ed, where are you right now? With my umbilical tangle around my feet. Oh dear. Just a minute, I need a Now, you're going the wrong I need a counter rifter tool. Yeah, but that's the wrong way, you got to go that way. There is the right way. I lost control, Story. You copy? We copy and we know what that feels like. Both the wepper dills and the control. Okay, put my umbilical in Monsuare, and I shall enter on tree. Okay. Okay, I'm going to start reading, you can pay attention if you want or not. Better fly to I'm going to return to certified close line parts are stowed properly and the EV area secure. So make sure you didn't leave anything out there. A real tempest in a chili pot bubbled up on the floor of the US Senate yesterday. Senator John Tower, Republican, Texas, rose to take exception to publisher remarks of Senator Barry M. Goldwater, suggest, who suggested a similarity between the Texas version of the peppery dish and leavings in a corral. Wait a minute, said Goldwater from across the chamber, with the senator using a microphone. If he is going to insult me, I want to hear it. Tower then loudly proclaimed that comparing Arizona chili with Texas chili was like comparing Stella Stiller with Cecile Laurent, and challenged Goldwater to a cook-off. He offered to let his friend pick the time and the place. He suggested that there be three impartial judges to do the official tasting. It will prove nobody can cook chili like a Texan, Tower said triumphantly. Goldwater quickly conceded, having said that Texans don't know chili from leavings in a corral, and said if Tower promised not to bring that substance with him to make his chili, he would be glad to accept the challenge. Besides, said Goldwater, it will be a real experience to teach the Texans something they don't know how to do. And that's all the news. The crew is about 7 minutes away from being awakened over Honeysuckle on their last day in space, last day of the Skylab mission. On today's execute package, we have a number of comments from the people on Earth to the people of Skylab, a poem. Skylab is history now and mountains of data are to be argued and published and argued and published again. And you who have given some of your lives and had some of your lives unwillingly taken by her, are free to enjoy the sun. Welcome back to Earth. Simon Houston. And then from the medical folks here, a comment, a job well done from the medical community and thanks for all of the data. The analysis will keep us busy for some time. Also, the Skylab 4 astronauts are candidates for the Guinness Book of Records. Most food consumed in pounds. Commander Carr consumed 511 pounds, science pilot Ed Gibson, 436 pounds, pilot Bill Pogue, 558 pounds. Most water intake in gallons. Commander Carr, 54.45 gallons, Ed Gibson, 60.54 gallons, Bill Pogue, 73.36 gallons. Most urine output in gallons, Commander Carr, 20.66, Ed Gibson, 21.01, Bill Pogue, 24.48. Most feces is still to be determined according to the flight surgeon here. Not sure that would go in the Guinness Book of Records anyway. When it's low in this old town, everybody puts me down. I'm a face without a name, just walking in the rain, going back. I got a girl with no name, but at least she touches me. I got a home and a big warm bed and a feather pillow from my head, we going back. Good morning, Story. How y'all doing this morning? Doing great. We're ready to roll. What kind of sleep did you get? Oh, I think ranging from not so good to pretty good. I got five hours. Okay, great. Still got about three. Ed Houston. Hello, Story. Hello, Ed. There is kind of an anticlimax to what we played before. Continuing our swan song for the Skylab program, in more reasonable figures, the total Earth Resources Experiment Package return of all three manned missions resulted in 1,400 square feet of S190A multispectral frames, 1,018 square feet of S190B Earth terrain frames, and over 45 miles of magnetic tape information from the S191, 2, 3, and 4 instruments. Over 182,842 frames were taken of the sun and other stellar objects by all three missions. Slightly more by the second crew than the third, 77,600 ATM film frames versus 75,000 for the third crew. Although the third crew had more manned hours at the console. And the return weight of all three Apollo Command Modules is roughly the same, just slightly under two tons for all three of them. Total travel time around the Earth for all three missions is over 70 million miles. Skylab 2 crew, 11.5 million miles, Skylab 3 crew, 24.5 million miles, Skylab 4 crew, 30.5 million miles. It's just hard to imagine having

traveled even one million miles.

inform yourself so we can go ahead and do the RPS hot fire check.
Okay.

Okay, we're ready for it when you are, Jim.

Okay, it didn't work.

Okay, here comes the plus pitch.
Okay.
Standby for it.

That looks good. Go ahead and give us minus pitch now.
Okay.

Okay, that one looks good. Plus you're on now please here.
Roger.

Minus y'all now please.
Roger.

And CDR Houston, the hot fire is go all the way around, looks real good.
Very good. Thank you.
reaction control systems aboard the service module working perfectly.
All four of those quads were fired over Hawaii. Guidance officer here, very pleased.
Flight controller, very pleased too. That means after 3 months of inactivity, the CSM is still working perfectly.
Uh Bob, I'm going to go ahead and load the P30 for the separation burn.
Okie doke.
1551 and you are go for undocking.
Roger Grip.
We're all ready to go.
All right, say good bye for us. She's been a good bird.
Roger, sure has.
crew has a go for undocking.

10 minutes from now.
We'll be meet Bermuda station. and docking is scheduled at 10 hours 34 minutes Greenwich mean time.
Grip, you with us?
Yes sir, still got you for 3 more minutes.
Okay, we're undocked. We released the capture the docking extended release a little too soon and caught on the capture latches, had to release them and uh thrust our way off.

Okay, copy.

crew will now start a fly around of the uh workshop.

photographing uh the space station for the final time.

After completing uh this final inspection, the

crew will slow the Apollo command service modules by a few miles an hour.
Hello Grip.
Hello Edward.
I'll tell you, this vehicle sure looks like it's been worked over.

Well, it's been worked in, I know that.
A lot of tender, loving care has gone into the exterior of this thing.
Yes sir.

And uh, for the CDR's information, we're convinced there is no problem with the uh, computer and the software regarding the error needles, so you're free to use that as you uh, as you desire.

Okay, Grip. Thank you.

We got one fold in the uh sale grip that uh has apparently opened up recently and it's a whole lot uh lighter in color, a lot wider than all the rest of the folds in the accordion pleats of the sale.
Copy.
The crimp seat the colors in the sale, the that's the sale underneath.
One where it was uh originally covered by the one on top and then the one on top pulled away a little bit.
It's got two shades of brown, one very dark and one's uh, just about a light tan.
Roger, copy that's on the parasol, right?
That's right.
Been a good home Grip.
Yeah, sound like it. You guys occupied it long enough.

Sky Lab, Houston, everything's looking good here. You are go for the set maneuver.

Roger, Grip.

Hey, Grip, you can tell Elbean and guys that they did a great job putting that sail up. It's very symmetric.

Very good. I'm sure they'll appreciate the uh, words on their good work.
Certainly helped uh, have it out there and keep you comfortable.

Yeah, there's only one little spot that's uh, not too well covered, and uh unfortunately it was right by my sleep compartment.
Yeah, they arranged that specifically for you, Ed.
I believe it.
The only thing to look forward to, Grip, is the bigger and better one.
Roger that.

It's been a real useful machine, Grip. Hate to think we're the last guys to use it.

Yeah, yes.
You know, it's certainly uh, certainly did a good job.
Served its purpose.

Along with some real fine guys running it
course up there. We appreciate all the good work.
That's the whole NASA team that did that.

Skylab Houston, we are ALS to the array. Got you for about 10 minutes by the way.
I'm clearing we're back up to burn.

Understand, you got the burn.
I have the back to burn.

Looks like a good one, Grip. We'll give you the details later.
Roger.
See you as a rock, Grip.

Okie doke.
If for any reason, you run into a Ring 1 problem, which we don't anticipate,
we would like to go ahead and use whatever is left out of Ring 1 or Ring 2 to go ahead and set it up for a rolling entry.
Understand, if we have a problem with Ring 1, we'll go uh, use what's left to set up rolling re-entry.
That's a firm.
Okay, Grip. We copy, we've lost more for a moment, you see.
That's affirmative.

Okay, we're yawning for step.
Copy all for set.
Okay, very good.

Skylab, we're ready to step.
Right.

Ready landing, guys.
Look down then Grip.
There go the crowd.

The mains are on, please.
Lift off.

Copy.

Okay, the mains are unreefed, open fall.
Lookin good, Grip.
What a beautiful sight.
crew confirms uh, main shoot deployment and they have unreefed. Go ahead with your transmission.

Will you lie and clear, how are they?
Loud and clear. Give us go ahead with your transmission, Clipper.

All right, I wasn't giving you a call. I was just saying that sounded good to me, too.
Roger.

Roger, ships look good. We got 7000 ft.
Skylab, Skylab, this is recovery.
Hello recovery, Skylab loud and clear.
Hello recovery, we're looking at 3131 and minus 119er77.

All recovery, Roger, and I have a 3 out of message from New Orleans. Message follows, item one, and our agility 5 CF status.
Item two, quite 2 keep Post-landing valve closed.
Item three, and our agility, Ring source and manifold pressure with me, over.

all right recovery standby for mark splash.
Roger recovery.

all recovery mark splash.
Roger copy.
And photo we have a beautiful TV picture.
Alpha Roger.

Splash marked uh 15 hours 17 minutes 55 seconds, Greenwich mean time.
Uh the drokes is uh uh descending downward from the command module. There are about uh 2000 feet above the command module.
Roger. Skylab recovery, command module stable 2.
Roger.
Standby to mark on top.

All, Mark on top. 036.
3 points.
It's just 3 miles.

Roger recovery.

command modules reported in stable 2 position which means it has uh flipped over.
Command module's coming up now, the helicopter can see one of the up righting bags.

As soon as the uh, command module reaches stable 1, we should get communication between the crew and the recovery forces.

Hello recovery, I can recover my safe 1.
Roger.
Command module is in stable 1 now, the apex is up and we're starting to get some communication between the crew aboard the command module and recovery forces.

Oh, that's our last film.
That was all that's left. Oh shit, Bill. Did you look?
Oh, shit. How do you free Bill? It's open, I put the phone in.
It's going on the phone.

Set, 25.
Recovery is making an approach on the command module.

Skylab, is this voice swimmer?
Let's see I go. 618 forward in the water.
I am on our shows arriving very well. We have a good aim.
All right.
Recovery.

ER 70, SPT 80, and BLT is 80.
Roger, welcome home.
Okay, thanks. Very good.
Good to be back.
Glad to be home.
And that's the full recovery. Welcome home.
Thank you, Trip.
Recovery is making an approach. I can see the color of the standard former to some water.
Roger recovery.

Yeah, it appears that the first astronaut to come out will be Dr. Ed Gibson. He's in the center seat and would be the logical one to come out first.

I believe we're ready now.
Dr. Villard, Bell Richmond now, leaning in talking to Ed Gibson.

There, you can see Ed Gibson in the hatch, big smile.
He's got his cap.

Doctor's all back out on the platform now, Bell Richmond, uh leaning in with the last word for Ed Gibson.

And here he is, coming out through the hatch now.

Stand for just a moment in the open hatch.

Getting his land legs back.
And
big smile on the wave. And then a cheer goes up on the ship.

As as I feel great.

Now, he's being helped to his chair for his uh It doesn't appear to be as wobbly as I thought he might be.
Uh he's uh uh being held there as you can see it now on this platform.

And Bill Pogue is now, uh with a beard, uh seated in the hatch and is uh coming out now.

And he's seated in the hatch and he has both feet on the platform.

Sit there for just a minute. He stands up rather carefully.

He's got a good beard. He's now talking to Dr. Ed Gibson.

And a smile and a laugh. I don't know what they said to make him laugh, the ways, the cheer on the on the hangar deck here of New Orleans.

Bill Pogue now being helped to his chair, and the ship is rolling just a bit.

They had a handshake all around, and he seated in the middle chair, and now Jerry Carr's in the hatch, with another big beard.

He is, uh, seated in the hatch, and he's chatting with the doctors and they're all laughing.

Now, he's standing up.
Big smile, waving a salute.

There is a happy spacecraft commander.

He looks up and waves, and now he's being helped to his seat.

And it appears a band is getting ready to strike up.

Three astronauts now seated on this platform on the forklift truck.
The forklift truck will back away from the spacecraft, and then move in the place by the command module.

I just talked to Dr. Innis, he says the crew is obviously very, very good. It's just their pulse rate, and their blood pressures are good. 
It says they're just a little bit shaky, but that was expected. He says they're in fine shape. He's very pleased with the shape that the returning astronauts are in.
They're seated on the platform. They're laughing and smiling.

Moving up now toward the Skylab mobile laboratory, where they will spend the next six or seven hours in the medical procedure.

This is Skylab Control that ends the commentary from the recovery ship, the USS New Orleans. 

Crew has entered the mobile laboratories 
for a medical examination.

Very noisy here in the control center right now, as everyone is shaking hands, puffing away at cigars.

A plaque has been hung containing this crew's patch, and hung on the wall of the second floor mission control room, along with the plaques for the Skylab program. Skylab's 2 and 3 and the mission control center patch on the large screen, the front of the control room, was displayed a large reproduction of the Mission Control Center patch with the three crew patches superimposed on on that. And the words, "Welcome Home Skylab, Man in Space, Teamed with Man on Earth for Science to Benefit All Mankind."

That display has now changed to another one, the separate reproductions of the four crew patches. And it reads, "Skylab, the World's Largest Space Station, Man's Longest Venture into Space, Improved Understanding of the Universe, Rediscovery of the Planet Earth, Accomplishment of Major Space Vehicle Repair, Man, Machine and Spirit in a Truly Incredible Accomplishment."