America's First Space Station: NASA Skylab 1 Launch 50th Anniversary (1973-2023)

America's First Space Station: NASA Skylab 1 Launch 50th Anniversary (1973-2023)

This week in 1973, the uncrewed Skylab was launched aboard a modified Saturn V launch vehicle from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. 

Clouds of smoke billow out over the surrounding area as the uncrewed Skylab 1/Saturn V space vehicle launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 14, 1973. The Skylab 1 payload included the major components of the space station: the orbital workshop, Apollo Telescope Mount, multiple docking adapter, and airlock module. The Skylab 2 crew was scheduled to launch to the space station the following day aboard the Apollo Command and Service Module.

Skylab helped pave the way for permanent operations in low-Earth orbit. Over the course of its human occupation from May 25, 1973, to Feb. 8, 1974, three crews visited Skylab, carrying out 270 scientific and technical investigations in the fields of physics, astronomy, and biological sciences. These activities were forerunners of what we do now aboard the International Space Station.

Learn more about Skylab: 

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/skylab

Image Credit: NASA

Release Date: May 12, 2023

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