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Orbital Workshop
Part of Skylab

Apollo OWS + ATM

Apollo OWS + ATM
Credit: NASA

American manned space station. Study 1965. The Orbital Workshop (OWS) was a 1960's NASA program to create an embryonic space station in orbit using the spent S-IVB rocket stage of a Saturn IB.

Status: Study 1965. Gross mass: 30,500 kg (67,200 lb). Span: 6.60 m (21.60 ft).

Once in orbit, the station would be visited by a crew launched by a Saturn IB in an Apollo CSM. The crew would dock with the station, vent the residual propellants from the S-IVB stage, fill the hydrogen tank with a breathable oxygen atmosphere, and then enter the tank and outfit it as a station.

The OWS consisted of (from fore to aft):

This approach was known as the 'wet' workshop. Another alternative, the 'dry' workshop, involved launching a fully outfitted Workshop in a single Saturn V launch. This was certainly a simpler method, but all Saturn V launch vehicles were earmarked for the Apollo lunar landing program and NASA Administrator Webb gave that top priority.

In the original Orbital Workshop scenario, subsequent Saturn IB launches would deliver the Apollo Telescope Mount and the Apollo Mapping and Surveying System. A series of Apollo CSM flights would dock with these additional instruments, dock them to the Workshop, and then man the station and operate the equipment. Wet workshop flights would be followed by 'dry' workshop launches by Saturn V. These missions would extend in rapid sequence for two to three years from the initial launch, resulting in continuous occupation of stations in the final year.

NASA MSFC began serious investigation of the concept of an OWS on 20 August 1965. On 1 December George E. Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, gave MSFC Director Wernher von Braun authorization upgrade the workshop to the status of a separate project, with William Ferguson as Project Manager.

In those days things moved fast, and within three weeks NASA had decided to use Gemini subsystems for the airlock module (AM) of the Workshop. By 2 August 1966 NASA decided to test the AM as part of the dual-launch Apollo-Saturn 209-210 mission. The AM would be equipped with a docking adapter at one end to permit CSM docking. Oxygen tanks in the module would pressurize the AM and interior of the S-IVB to create a 'shirt-sleeve' environment for the crew. The mission would also allow an early 28-day, manned, Earth-orbital flight with 13 engineering, 7 medical, and 6 technology- related experiments. NASA Administrator Webb approved the plan and 17 days later NASA announced formal selection of McDonnell to manufacture the AM. This was followed by approval on 29 August to conduct one ATM flight on Apollo missions 211/212.

Over the next three years NASA entered a period of budget cutbacks, resulting in constant schedule slips and project cutbacks. The program's decline can be charted as follows:

The end of the 'wet' workshop came in July 1969 after the successful lunar landing. It was decided to launch a single 'dry' workshop, ATM, and earth resources mapping system atop a Saturn V. This became known as Skylab, and is discussed separately.

Crew Size: 3. Electric System: 12.00 average kW.



Family: Space station, Space station orbit, USA - Space Stations. Country: USA. Launch Vehicles: Atlas, Atlas SLV-3 Agena D, Saturn IB. Agency: NASA, Douglas. Bibliography: 16, 2375, 2377, 2378, 2379, 2380, 2381, 2382, 481.

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