Crew & Mission
A Personal story...
..."Initially we asked the art departments at Rockwell (LA), McDonnel Douglas at Huntington Beach (builders of Skylab), Kennedy Space Center and others to search the windmills of their minds for our mission patch considering the major objectives of Skylab-Earth, Sun and Medical. The group at Huntington Beach was selected, although we received many good ideas from all of them. We had decided that our patch should be red, white and blue for obvious reasons. The Earth half of the patch is pretty straightforward. The sun half is a little special in that the solar flare depicted in yellow orange is the shape of one Owen Garriott had done extensive analysis on years before. Leonardo Da Vinci's man represents the medical aspects of the flight. Certain modifications were made in Da Vinci's art to make it more suitable for family viewing"...
Astronaut Jack Lousma in: "All we did was fly to the moon"
Artwork
This is the emblem for the second manned Skylab mission. It will be a mission of up to 56 days. The patch symbolizes the main objectives of the flight. The central figure, adapted from one by Leonardo da Vinci, illustrates the proportions of the human form and suggests the many studies of man himself to be conducted in the zero-gravity environment of space. This drawing is superimposed on two hemispheres representing the two additional main areas of research - studies of the Sun and the development of techniques for survey of the Earth's resources. The left hemisphere show the Sun as it will be seen in the red light radiated by hydrogen atoms in the solar atmosphere. The right hemisphere is intended to suggest the studies of Earth resources to be conducted on Skylab. Although the patch denotes this mission as Skylab II, it is actually consided to be the Skylab III mission.