![]() ![]() Presumably,this way the Skylab crew demonstrated their protest against the overloaded work schedule and the inflated demands of NASA, which they were unable to fulfill. Today, this event is often called the first ever space strike or even a mutiny. After 93 minutes, when Skylab completed one turn around the Earth, the astronauts contacted control center again. The operators saw the station on radar, but did not receive any response from the crew to their inquiries. This story originally appeared on the end of December 1973, the Flight Control Center in Houston unexpectedly lost contact with the Skylab orbital station, which was carrying three astronauts: Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue. And Schirra did all right too, even if he never returned to space: After leaving government work he saw success in the business world, and even became a TV spokesman for Actifed, the cold medicine he took during the mission. If more flexibility, better understanding and improved cold medicine are what it takes to keep crews happy, then they seem small prices to pay to ensure future missions to the moon, Mars or beyond remain mutiny-free.Īnd psychology aside, Apollo 7 was “ 101 percent successful,” as NASA puts it, paving the way for Apollo 8’s trip into lunar orbit and, eventually, a successful moon landing with Apollo 11. ![]() (They did get them 40 years later, albeit posthumously in two cases.)Īs a result of this and another “mini-mutiny” during NASA’s final Skylab mission, NASA began to take more seriously the psychological constraints astronauts face - a focus that continues to this day. ![]() None of the three crew members ever flew in space again, and while every other Apollo mission crew immediately received Distinguished Service Medals - NASA’s highest honor - Apollo 7’s crew did not. The crew did end up not wearing the helmets, and were just fine.īut their insubordination did not go unnoticed. So they simply refused to wear the helmets. They were particularly concerned that the changing pressures during re-entry would wreak havoc with their sinuses, possibly even bursting their ear drums. But Schirra and his crew had been relieving sinus pressure by pinching their noses and blowing their helmets, new models for the Apollo mission with no visor openings, would make this impossible. Every previous crewed re-entry and landing, during the Mercury and Gemini missions, required the astronauts to wear their helmets. I refuse to foul up our time lines this way.” (The crew did at least seem to enjoy their TV broadcast when the time came.)Īn even bigger breach of protocol came toward the end of the mission, and centered on the crew’s helmets. “We do not have the equipment out we have not had an opportunity to follow setting we have not eaten at this point,” Schirra said ( page 115 of the official voice transcriptions). Deke Slayton back on the ground tried to persuade him to squeeze in some camera time. When Schirra wanted to delay that first-time live TV broadcast so they could complete crucial mission tests, he met with resistance. Reporters soon noted the increasing “snappishness” of the crew in their conversations with mission control. A demanding work environment does not typically mix well with feeling awful.
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