Skylab: America's First Home in Space

Built from a leftover Moon rocket, nearly destroyed on launch day, and saved by the first great repair job in orbit — Skylab proved that humans could live in space, not just visit it.

BUILT FROM A MOON ROCKET

Skylab was a Saturn V third stage converted into a workshop the size of a small house — by far the largest spacecraft ever flown when it launched on May 14, 1973.

It was the final Saturn V ever to fly.

THE RESCUE THAT SAVED THE STATION

Sixty-three seconds into launch, the station's micrometeoroid shield tore away, taking a solar wing with it and jamming the other. Skylab was overheating and starved for power before its first crew ever arrived.

That first crew deployed a sunshade parasol and freed the jammed solar wing during a daring spacewalk — the save that made everything after it possible.

LIVING IN SPACE

Three crews called Skylab home for 28, 59, and 84 days — each mission a new American endurance record.

They ran hundreds of experiments in solar astronomy, Earth observation, and human biology, writing the first real handbook on long-duration spaceflight.

THE FIERY FAREWELL

Skylab reentered in July 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

Its lessons went straight into the Shuttle era — and eventually into the International Space Station.

SKYLAB IS THE FORGOTTEN BRIDGE BETWEEN THE MOON AND THE SPACE
STATION — AND IT WAS SAVED BY HAND.