Skylab 4 Radio Silence (1973)

Thu Dec 27, 1973

Image: The final view of Skylab, from the departing mission 4 crew, with Earth in the background

On this day in 1973, overworked astronauts on the American Skylab 4 mission accidentally went radio silent. The situation was perceived as a strike by ground control and won better labor conditions for the space crew.

Prior to the incident, the three man crew reported exhausting working conditions. According to astronaut Edward Gibson, “We fell behind what mission control desired. So they decided they were going to help us out by giving us detailed instructions every morning…One morning we had about sixty feet of teleprinter message to cut up and divide up and understand before we even got to work.”

In late December, the crew got permission for a day off from ground control, accounted for in their contracts. According to crewmember Gerald P. Carr, in their fatigued state, “[they] got careless with [their] radios”, going a full orbit of the Earth without contacting ground control (approximately 90 minutes).

On Earth, this was perceived as intentional, and rumor of a strike quickly spread. Later, this incident was mistakenly reported on by journalist Henry S.F. Cooper and Harvard Business School (HBS) as the first strike in space.

In later interviews, at least one crewmember claimed that the radio silence was unintentional, and, for its part, NASA strongly denies that the incident was a strike, with John Uri of the NASA Johnson Space Center stating “It is unfortunate that the unverified story began at all but even more so that over the years prestigious organizations propagated it, giving it credence when it deserves none.”

A few days after the incident, administrators called a “crisis meeting”, at the end of which ground control agreed to let the space crew set their own schedules.

• Date: 1973-12-27
• Learn More: jacobinmag.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org