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HISTORY OI" THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



1973 THE YEAR OF SKYLAB 



Three successive and successful manned flights of 28, 59, and 84 

 days were followed very closely by the committee in 1973 and 1974 as 

 the members assessed the achievements of Skylab. The three crews of 

 Skylab astronauts orbited the Earth 2,475 times and traveled over 

 61 million nautical miles in space. On May 14, 1973, shortly after the 

 unmanned Skylab workshop was launched, the meteoroid shield was 

 torn away, and two solar cell arrays were lost. This meant that the 

 valuable workshop was overheated and underpowered. 



Eleven days after the first flight, astronauts Charles Conrad, 

 Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz were launched to rendezvous with and 

 repair the workshop. They demonstrated the ability of human beings 

 to perform difficult repair and construction work in space. A portable 

 sunshade was deployed and one of the solar arrays was freed. 



On July 17, 1973, the first crew of Skylab astronauts appeared be- 

 fore a joint meeting of the House Committee on Science and Astro- 

 nautics and the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 

 with Chairman Teague presiding. The 1973 lineups of the full com- 

 mittee and the Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight were as follows: 



Democrats 

 Olin E. Teague, Texas, Chairman 

 Ken Hechler, West Virginia 

 John W. Davis, Georgia 

 Thomas N. Downing, Virginia 

 Don Fuqua, Florida 

 James W. Symington, Missouri 

 Richard T. Hanna, California 

 Walter Flowers, Alabama 

 Robert A. Roe, New Jersey 

 William R. Cotter, Connecticut 

 Mike McCormack, Washington 

 Bob Bergland, Minnesota 

 J. J. Pickle, Texas 

 George E. Brown, Jr., California 

 Dale Milford, Texas 

 Ray Thornton, Arkansas 

 Bill Gunter, Florida 



Republicans 

 Charles A. Mosher, Ohio 

 Alphonzo Bell, California 

 John W. Wydler, New York 

 Larry Winn, Jr., Kansas 

 Louis Frey, Jr., Florida 

 Barry M. Goldwater, Jr., California 

 Marvin L. Esch, Michigan 

 John N. Happy Camp, Oklahoma 

 John B. Conlan, Arizona 

 Stanford E. Parris, Virginia 

 Paul W. Cronin, Massachusetts 

 James G. Martin, North Carolina 



Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight 



Democrats 

 Don Fuqua, Florida, Chairman 

 Walter Flowers, Alabama 

 William R. Cotter, Connecticut 

 Bob Bergland, Minnesota 

 Bill Gunter, Florida 



Republicans 

 Larry Winn, Jr., Kansas 

 Alphonzo Bell, California 

 John W. Wydler, New York 

 Louis Frey, Jr., Florida 

 John N. Happy Camp, Oklahoma 



