Twin solar array wing panels were folded against the orbital workshop for launch, one on each side. When Skylab reached orbit, the arrays would extend, exposing solar cells to the Sun to produce 12 kilowatts of power. This array contains 147,840 solar cells.

During the launch in May 1973, the micrometeoroid shield accidentally deployed too soon, jamming one solar array wing and damaging the other so badly that both the wing and the shield were torn loose from the workshop. As a result, Skylab in space had only one solar array wing, as seen in this exhibit.

With clever engineering and improvisation, the effect of the damage was minimized, and planned Skylab operations were completed despite the reduction in power.

Transferred from NASA and TRW Systems