SKYLAB

by Charles Coombs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1972

The space program's current priority project surveyed in the present tense, perhaps to avoid the need for revision when projected operations become fact. Coombs follows the orbiting laboratory from ground assembly to the splashdown of its first resident crew, noting functions of the different components, features of the ""fantastic"" Apollo telescope mount, and routines of life aboard (but with an annoying shyness regarding the workings of the ""waste management"" system). He emphasizes the medical and scientific benefits to be had from the project and steers away from the issue of international competition, except to say that the U.S. vehicle is better and three times bigger than the Soviet Salute, which circled the earth in mid-1971 but ended tragically. However Coombs is more restrained in his advocacy (at least stylistically) than Don Dwiggins in Into the Unknown (1971, p. 1025, J-373), and Skylab will be the vehicle of choice for those who agree with his closing statement that ""Space, inevitably, is the medium of the future, and Skylab is designed to help open up the new frontier.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION