Been a while since I wrote about a space related topic, hasn’t it? Well, I couldn’t let today go by at all without at least covering the sad end of one of my favorite parts of space history – Skylab. Today, July 11th, marks 40 years since Skylab re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian […]
Haven’t we been down this road before? Didn’t I already do a 60th Birthday post for NASA earlier this year? Yes, yes I did. However, that post was for the July 29th, 1958 formation of NASA as an agency, the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act. In the 2 months following that date in 1958, […]
On September 25th, 1973 the Skylab 3 Command Module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing an end to the record-setting mission. Clocking in at 59 days, 11 hours flight time, this mission doubled the record for time spent in space on a single flight, the previous record having been set by Skylab 2. This […]
I mention in my previous article about the launch of Skylab 3 that I would hunt for videos related to the mission. Well, sure enough, I quickly found a solid one – Skylab, A Scientific Harvest is a 1974 produced NASA Film on the two month long Skylab 3 mission. The video goes into light […]
On July 28th, 1973, a Saturn 1B rocket launched from Launch Complex 39-B at Kennedy Space Center carrying astronauts Alan Bean, Owen Garriott, and Jack Lousma into orbit for the Skylab 3 mission. This mission was, as you would expect, a direct follow up to the 28 day Skylab 2 mission. Skylab 3 would remain […]
Yesterday, June 22nd, marked the 45th anniversary of the end of the Skylab 2 mission, a 28 day stay on America’s first (and so far, only) space station. As I covered extensively in May, Skylab was heavily damaged during its launch, and the Skylab 2 mission had to be delayed for 10 days while a […]
The first manned mission to Skylab launched on May 25th 1973, carrying astronauts Pete Conrad, Joe Kerwin, and Paul Weitz on a planned 28 day stay on the United States first space station. The first thing the crew would need to do, however, was make Skylab livable. Skylab was heavily damaged during its launch on […]
On May 25th, 1973, the first manned mission to the United States first space station, Skylab, launched from Launch Complex 39-B at Kennedy Space Center. Originally scheduled to launch 10 days earlier, on May 15th, the launch was delayed when it was discovered that Skylab had suffered major damage on its way to orbit; the […]
For 10 days in May of 1973, the world waited as NASA worked hard to prepare a fix to the damaged Skylab space station. Based on the information available, they knew what kind of damage had happened to the station during launch, but without being up there to see it, no one knew quite for […]
When the United States first space station, Skylab, was launched on May 14th, 1973, it suffered major damage – the micro meteoroid shield intended to protect the station from space debris and the heat of the Sun was torn off, causing temperatures in the station to rise far beyond what the vehicle was designed for. […]
When Skylab launched on May 14th, 1973 things looked good from the ground. The Saturn V 1st stage ignited, and like the Apollo launches before it, the vehicle began its flight – Americas first space station was off to what looked like a perfect beginning to its mission. After about 50 seconds or so the […]
45 years ago today, the final Saturn V to fly launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, carrying on it the first (and only) space station for the United States: Skylab (often stylized as “SkyLab”) I absolutely love Skylab. The station itself, how it came to be, and the dramatic story of its […]
Update 6-23-2018: The original upload channel has been deleted. This article has been replaced by a new one for the 45th anniversary of the Skylab 2 mission here: https://www.xadara.com/skylab-the-first-40-days/ Switching gears just a bit back to space, we have this nice little film from the mid 70’s regarding the first manned Skylab mission. Skylab was […]