Uploaded August 2011 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched, initially unmanned, by a modified Saturn V rocket, and weighed about 77 metric tons in orbit by itself. Three manned missions to the station, conducted between 1973 and 1974 by an Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) atop the smaller Saturn IB, each delivered a three-astronaut crew. During that time, an additional Saturn IB was on standby for rescuing those in orbit.
Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its operational life, and crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the Sun. Thousands of photographs of Earth were taken, and records for human time spent in orbit were extended. Plans were drawn up to refurbish and reuse Skylab, using the Space Shuttle to boost its orbit and repair it; however, in 1979, before the shuttle was ready, Skylab reentered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, with debris striking portions of Western Australia.
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched, initially unmanned, by a modified Saturn V rocket, and weighed about 77 metric tons in orbit by itself. Three manned missions to the station, conducted between 1973 and 1974 by an Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) atop the smaller Saturn IB, each delivered a three-astronaut crew. During that time, an additional Saturn IB was on standby for rescuing those in orbit.
Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its operational life, and crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the Sun. Thousands of photographs of Earth were taken, and records for human time spent in orbit were extended. Plans were drawn up to refurbish and reuse Skylab, using the Space Shuttle to boost its orbit and repair it; however, in 1979, before the shuttle was ready, Skylab reentered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, with debris striking portions of Western Australia.
