Maneuvering Unit, Automatically Stabilized, Skylab

This maneuvering unit is designed to assist an astronaut in moving around outside the spacecraft. It has three small compressed gas thrusters that operate when the astronaut squeezes the hand grip. A small maneuvering unit like this gives a spacewalking astronaut more mobility with less effort. Skylab astronauts used this device to train for their 1973-1974 missions. While in space they tested an identical unit by flying it inside the large space station.

NASA transferred this training unit to the Museum in 1976 .