Skylab

Rockford, Illinois high school student, Vincent Converse, discussed his proposed Skylab experiment with Dr. Robert Head (right) and Gene Greshman of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). His experiment, “Zero Gravity Mass Measurement” used a simple leaf spring with the mass to be weighed attached to the end. The electronic package oscillated the spring at a specific rate and the results were recorded electronically. Converse was among 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab mission. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of equipment, such as that of Converse’s experiment.