Early space habitats /Shuttle-tended and permanently manned/ in low earth orbit

The anticipated advent of Shuttle operations in 1980 and the attendant potential for longer-duration manned orbital missions, e.g., 60 to 120 days, make it timely to survey a range of candidate habitability configurations. The following three configurations have been selected to present a conceptual group that possesses a divergent set of characteristics: (1) the Skylab, which uses flight-proven hardware; (2) the Advanced Spacelab, which represents the hardware under development, and (3) a study-only 'clean-sheet' concept, as representative of a group of preliminary designs for new flight hardware. All these concepts can be operational by the mid-1980's, should manned-space planning requirements warrant this class of manned facility. The three candidates are examined individually on an objective basis.