On 14 May 1973 Skylab, the
first U.S. space station, was launched unmanned in orbit around
Earth. During the launch Skylab was a solar panel was completely
damaged, and another sat down and seriously damaged a heat shield.
Three manned missions followed between 1973 and 1974. During these
subsequent missions Skylab was used to investigate whether people
could live for a long time in space. The last mission departed on 16
November 1973 and came back on 8 February 1974. After several years
circling unmanned Skylab re-entered Earth's atmosphere and
disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western
Australia.
Missions
Skylab 1 SL-1
(14/05/1973): unmanned launch of space station
Skylab 2 SL-2 (SLM-1)
(25/05/1973 – 22/06/1973): Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz & Joseph
Kerwin, the first Skylab crew's most urgent job was to repair the
space station. Skylab's meteorite-and-sun shield and one of its solar
arrays had torn loose during launch, and the remaining primary solar
array was jammed. Without its shield, Skylab baked in the sunshine.
The crew had to work fast, because high temperatures inside the
workshop would release toxic materials and ruin on-board film and
food.
Skylab 3 SL-3 (SLM-2)
(28/07/1973 – 25/09/1973): Alan Bean, Jack Lousma & Owen
Garriott, the second manned mission conducted many scientific
experiments. A second solar panel was mounted. Besides the human crew
on this flight there were also two spiders, Arabella and Anita. These
two "astronauts" proved that they were able to spin a web
at a complete lack of gravity. Furthermore, six mice, 720 fruit flies
and two fish were part of the crew.
Skylab 4 SL-4 (SLM-3)
(16/11/1973 – 08/02/1974): Gerald Carr, William Pogue & Edward
Gibson, the third and final manned mission conducted like the
previous mission many experiments. It also extensively observed the
comet Kohoutek.
Skylab - Space Station I - NASA Documentary
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