On Sat, 22 Sep 2012 10:34:17 +0500, Hg wrote:

For a 1970's project the STS sure was ambitious. I remember NASA had
many problems with development that led to delays that amounted to
a launch that was many years behind schedule

Not many, 2 1/2.

When it got the go ahead in 1972, Shuttle's first launch was targeted
for November, 1978. STS-1 actually launched on April 12, 1981.

That's less behind schedule than the Airbus A400M, A380, Lockheed
F-22, F-35, and Boeing 787.

Wasn't the Shuttle supposed to dock with Skylab?

Not dock, but rendezvous and send the TRS robot over to dock with and
reboost it. But that was planned for circa 1980-81. At the time SkyLab
(launched 1973) was expected to remain in orbit in for ten years. It
actually deorbited in 1979 due to greater than expected atmosphere
expansion during that solar maximum. The Shuttle TRS mission kept
moving up in the schedule as SkyLab's orbital life contracted and
Shuttle's first flight slipped, until they finally passed each other
going in opposite directions.

Brian