Skylab Coordinate System

I dug through several NASA PDF's trying to find a single consistent description of the station's axis system. The only consistent part was:

X AXIS: front to back, with +X always in the direction of the primary docking port.

Y AXIS: left and right.

Z AXIS: up and down.

Many times, the same manual would show +Y as the station's left, -Y to the right, only to have the polarities reversed in another diagram several chapters later. Same for +Z up/-Z down.


I'm just going to keep it simple and maintain this standard throughout the blog:

X AXIS: front to back, with +X always in the direction of the primary docking port.

Y AXIS: +Y to left,  -Y to right.

Z AXIS: +Z up--the direction the Telescope Mount points--and  -Z down.