A Little Old-Fashioned, But That's All Right

By DAVID ELLIS

A group of aerospace engineers say there's a "pre-owned" alternative to the proposed $40 billion space station. They are calling on NASA to refurbish and deploy the backup SKYLAB workshop that was built but never used. The original model orbited the earth in 1973-74, and its understudy is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The experts say launching the venerable Skylab -- which they claim could easily handle the research -- would cost a mere $4 billion.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart