Greetings, it’s been a while since we last caught each other. Once again, I’m coming to you from a Starbucks in Liberal, Kansas. I’ve got a little bit of time this morning before a meeting and store visit for work, and I wanted to catch you up on what’s been happening in my life.
In some huge personal news, my wife and I are excited to announce that we’re having our first baby! Simone is due at the end of September and we’re over the Moon to welcome our first crew member! Parenthood… we’re boldly going where we’ve never gone before.
I’m happy my mom kept my old-school NASA Worm Space Shuttle hoodie from when I was a baby. Yes, we’re going to take all the space-themed baby pictures in the coming years. 😂 I’ve already decided that this little one is going to be my co-tour guide when I’m volunteering at the Cosmosphere, so we’re setting this baby up for peak space nerdiness.
Please take a moment to check out my shop- Starlight and Gleam. There’s FREE shipping on all orders with the code SUBSTACK, so check out the site and snag something nice for yourself or someone special. Also, check out this glow-in-the-dark Lunar Module and Command Module, plus a holographic Space Shuttle sticker- available in this 3-pack!
Now, on to Skylab. There’s an amazing event coming up in May and details will be out soon. I guarantee that you don’t want to miss this talk!
I’ve been reading as much as I can about Skylab in preparation for this talk and a series of social media posts celebrating the 50th anniversary of the station.
The more I learn about Skylab, the more I wish the “Boost” mission would have happened. We still had so much to learn from Skylab and it’s a shame we didn’t get more crewed missions visiting America’s first space station.
This artist’s rendition shows the remotely operated Teleoperator Retrieval System (TRS), sending Skylab to a higher orbit. Note the Space Shuttle nearby in the bottom left of this image.
Sadly, the Shuttle never flew before Skylab reentered Earth’s atmosphere in July 1979. Increased solar activity caused an increase in drag on the station, leading to the decision to perform a controlled reentry.
Here’s some further reading if you’re interested in learning more about the Skylab Boost Mission. Emily Carney wrote a great piece on this part of Skylab history that you can read here. Here's a NASA technical report on the Teleoperator Retrieval System, there’s a link to the PDF on the right-hand side of this page.
Also, check out this video of an alternate history Skylab from the excellent Apple TV series For All Mankind which is available on Apple TV+. A Shuttle docked to Skylab would have been one heck of a sight!
I know I’ll be giving Skylab attention, and watch for more links and posts :)
Thank you! We’re so pumped haha. I’m sure we’re gonna have to get all the space-themed baby costumes and toys haha
Nice to see an early Skylab post in this 50th anniversary year. I'm guessing the first US space station will get far more attention from us online Space Geeks and from reunion events this year than it ever received in the news back when it was flying.
Congratulations on the little micronaut in ... er ... training(?). I predict you will need more space ... for all the new space-wear and astro-toys to come.