1973 NASA Lithograph "Skylab Space Station Cluster Deployed"

1973 NASA Lithograph "Skylab Space Station Cluster Deployed" is a vintage Lithographs / Prints artifact by U.S. Government Printing Office / NASA (Johnson Space Center) from 1973, preserved in The Record Institute Ephemera Archive.

Category: Lithographs / Prints

Brand: U.S. Government Printing Office / NASA (Johnson Space Center)

Year: 1973

Rarity Class: B

This 1973 official NASA lithograph (JSCL-108) transcends standard aerospace public relations by presenting a distinctly imperfect machine. Captured by the departing Skylab 2 crew, the image documents both a near-catastrophic launch failure and a triumph of orbital engineering, evidenced by a missing solar panel and the shimmering presence of an improvised parasol sunshield.

Quick Read

Orbital Triage: Documents the Skylab space station after sustaining severe damage during launch, explicitly showing the missing Orbital Workshop (OWS) solar panel. Human Ingenuity: The gold-colored "parasol" visible on the station's hull is an improvised thermal shield deployed by the Skylab 2 crew to save the overheated vessel. Primary Source Photography: The faint black crosshairs (reseau marks)

Summary

This 1973 official NASA lithograph (JSCL-108) transcends standard aerospace public relations by presenting a distinctly imperfect machine. Captured by the departing Skylab 2 crew, the image documents both a near-catastrophic launch failure and a triumph of orbital engineering, evidenced by a missing solar panel and the shimmering presence of an improvised parasol sunshield.

A color photograph of the Skylab space station orbiting Earth, set against a backdrop of dense white clouds and deep blue ocean. The station appears visibly damaged, missing one of its large main solar panels on its side. A makeshift, gold-colored parasol sunshade is deployed over the main cylindrical body of the station. At the front, four smaller solar panels extend in a cross or windmill formation. The image contains faint, evenly spaced black crosshairs (reseau marks) typical of scientific space cameras. Below the photograph, a printed caption in a serif font reads: "SKYLAB SPACE STATION CLUSTER DEPLOYED IN EARTH ORBIT".