Skylab

Mission Profile

Skylab was America's first space station, constructed from the third stage of a Saturn V rocket and launched unmanned on 14 May 1973, going on to host three crews for 28, 59, and 84 days respectively during 1973-1974 — setting American long-duration spaceflight records that stood until the Shuttle-Mir program. The station experienced a catastrophic launch abort when its meteoroid shield and a solar panel were torn away during ascent, requiring the first crew to conduct emergency spacewalks to install a parasol sunshade and free a jammed solar panel — one of the most dramatic in-space repairs ever conducted. Skylab's three crews accumulated over 2,000 hours of solar observations with the Apollo Telescope Mount, conducted extensive medical research on long-duration spaceflight, and performed Earth resources surveys. It was abandoned in 1974 and reentered the atmosphere over Australia in July 1979.