Skylab Technical Crew Debriefing 1973

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BEAN
LOUSMA
GARRIOTT
I did too.
The sack would move over in the corner.
Things we saw out the window.
For example, we saw that satellite about a week before splash­
down.
That was one of the most unusual things that we saw
and I guess Jack noticed it looking out the window.
This
bright reddish object was out there and we tracked it for
about 5 or 10 minutes.
It was obviously a satellite in a very
similar orbit to our own.
It was rotating and had a period
of almost exactly 10 seconds because you could see the bright­
ness vary with that period.
We followed it until sunset and
it went out of sunlight just about 5 to 7 seconds after we
did. It held its position nearly the same, in the wardroom
window for that 10-minute interval although we could see it
drift in relative positions slightly, maybe 10 to - 20 degrees
during the course of that 10-minute interval. It was reddish
in color even when we were well above the horizon.
As we
approached sunset, it turned more reddish, presumably because
. of the sunlight change.
What satellite it was and how it
happened to end up in such a similar orbit, no one ever explained
to us.
And I would like to hear a few words from someone about
that satellite.
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