It’s the 50th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Skylab—the space station that laid the groundwork for the International Space Station. These days, the orbital lab is mostly remembered for the hysteria it created prior to crashing down to Earth, but it’s important to reflect on its historical legacy.
Skylab was the first U.S. space station, launching to low Earth orbit on May 14, 1973. The orbiting lab had only three crews during its short life, but each successive mission set new duration records, in addition to providing unprecedented scientific and technical data. As NASA reflected 10 years ago, Skylab proved that “humans can live and work in outer space for extended periods of time.”
