Embarking on a new era in space exploration
Skylab launched to space from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 14, 1973, aboard a Saturn V rocket—the same type of rocket that launched Apollo astronauts to the Moon. The launch was not without incident, however, as vibrations caused the station’s micrometeorite and thermal shield to fall off 63 seconds into the launch.
“Debris from the torn shield jammed one of the arrays, preventing it from opening, and a plume from a retrorocket used to separate the Saturn V’s second stage from Skylab impinged on the second array, in its slightly open configuration, tearing it completely off the station,” wrote NASA’s John Uri in a 2020 retrospective.
Once in orbit, this resulted in serious power issues at the station that required immediate attention from the first crew, which launched to Skylab later that same month. The missing thermal shield also meant that the station’s workshop was unprotected from the Sun’s damaging rays.
