Reliable power: Approaching perfection

The designers of Skylab´s solar-cell arrays had good reason to worry after the spacecraft´s launching on May 14, 1973. Part of the array assembly, they learned, had ripped off during the launching because of a mechanical problem. The power supply for the spacecraft was crippled. With just over 5 instead of 10.5 kilowatts available at any given time, Skylab´s crew still completed the mission successfully. Once again photovoltaic arrays for spacecraft proved to be highly reliable.