Book review: Skylab

[Matt J. McCullar]

Found a terrific used bookstore in Duncanville, TX, essentially far
southwest Dallas. Among the many books I nabbed during a half-price Sunday
was Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.'s _A House in Space_, a detailed history of life
aboard Skylab in the early 1970s.

Cooper has written several other books about astronautics and astronomy
(_The Flight That Failed_, which I think was the first book ever written
about Apollo 13) and this one pleasantly surprised me by actually having
photographs. His other works are usually just text.

If you like engineering, you'll love reading this because it contains a
great many tips on much of the equipment used inside Skylab and how well it
worked or didn't. No one can plan for everything, and you've got human
beings involved, so I imagine that NASA used data sent back as a blueprint
for designing the later Space Station.

Details:
* The low air pressure inside meant voices didn't carry well, so astronauts
sometimes had to talk louder or shout to make themselves heard.
* The drab color of the interior and the drab clothes didn't go over well
with everyone.
* The towels used to mop up after a shower were very scratchy because of
their fire resistance.
* Some crews worked/behaved better than others, for a variety of reasons.
* All the food (freeze-dried) was bland.
* It was very easy for small items to float away, particularly after opening
a storage cabinet. Astronauts usually found them (eventually) trapped
against an air vent.

The astronauts made recommendations for clothing, eating utensils, dinner
tables, exercise, etc. Cooper writes very well.

This one's a keeper. If you find it, nab it! :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

[Terrell Miller]

"Doug..." > wrote in message
...

> It was really quite good food, according to what I've heard. It just
> tasted more bland in orbit because microgravity has some kind of effect
> on the taste function.

IIRC that's because of the fluid pooling in your head, kind of like eating
when you have a cold. The taste buds and your nose can't process the taste
because of the gunk chugging them up.

--
Terrell Miller


"I think the significant thing is that whatever prodecure we use, we are not
prepared to handle what I would call a fluid bowel movement. That is where
we were very...lucky. I was deathly afraid of that."
-Wally Schirra, Apollo 7 mission debrief

[Henry Spencer]

In article >,
Terrell Miller > wrote:
>IIRC that's because of the fluid pooling in your head, kind of like eating
>when you have a cold. The taste buds and your nose can't process the taste
>because of the gunk chugging them up.

Quite a bit of what we normally think of as taste is, in fact, smell.
That's why the taste of some things seems off when you have a bad cold.
--
MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |

[Doug...]

In article >,
says...
> "Doug..." > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > It was really quite good food, according to what I've heard. It just
> > tasted more bland in orbit because microgravity has some kind of effect
> > on the taste function.
>
> IIRC that's because of the fluid pooling in your head, kind of like eating
> when you have a cold. The taste buds and your nose can't process the taste
> because of the gunk chugging them up.

That's what I had always heard, but a recent thread here brought up some
new research that reduces fluid in the head as a big contributor to the
effect.

As long as there's an easy workaround (giving the crews spicier food and
more condiments), I guess the research doesn't have a high priority.

--

It's not the pace of life I mind; | Doug Van Dorn
it's the sudden stop at the end... |

[Matthew F Funke]

Henry Spencer > wrote:
>Terrell Miller > wrote:
>>IIRC that's because of the fluid pooling in your head, kind of like eating
>>when you have a cold. The taste buds and your nose can't process the taste
>>because of the gunk chugging them up.
>
>Quite a bit of what we normally think of as taste is, in fact, smell.
>That's why the taste of some things seems off when you have a bad cold.

Indeed. If you dice the foods involved, and feed them to yourself
blindly and with your sense of smell *completely* cut off, it's impossible
to tell the difference between onion, apple, pear, and potato.

As I understand it, the shrimp cocktail on Shuttle flights is popular
for this reason; it's kind of spicy and cuts through the congestion more
than a lot of other selections.
--
-- With Best Regards,
Matthew Funke )

[Darren J Longhorn]

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 02:11:17 GMT, "Matt J. McCullar"
> wrote:

>Found a terrific used bookstore in Duncanville, TX, essentially far
>southwest Dallas. Among the many books I nabbed during a half-price Sunday
>was Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.'s _A House in Space_, a detailed history of life
>aboard Skylab in the early 1970s.
>
>Cooper has written several other books about astronautics and astronomy
>(_The Flight That Failed_, which I think was the first book ever written
>about Apollo 13) and this one pleasantly surprised me by actually having
>photographs. His other works are usually just text.
>
>If you like engineering, you'll love reading this because it contains a
>great many tips on much of the equipment used inside Skylab and how well it
>worked or didn't. No one can plan for everything, and you've got human
>beings involved, so I imagine that NASA used data sent back as a blueprint
>for designing the later Space Station.

Thanks for the tip, I've ordered myself a copy.

[Joseph Nebus]

"Matt J. McCullar" > writes:

>Cooper has written several other books about astronautics and astronomy
>(_The Flight That Failed_, which I think was the first book ever written
>about Apollo 13) and this one pleasantly surprised me by actually having
>photographs. His other works are usually just text.

Cooper also has a nice book about the training for a shuttle
flight, based on experience for one of the 1985 flights. I can't think
of the name right now, but it was another quite good read.

Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Michael Cassutt]

>Cooper also has a nice book about the training for a shuttle
>flight, based on experience for one of the 1985 flights. I can't think
>of the name right now, but it was another quite good read.

BEFORE LIFTOFF, from Johns Hopkins University Press. I believe there was a
paperback reprint edition, too.

Michael Cassutt