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SPACE NOWHistory

The past behind what's next.

Mission

Skylab

America's first space station, launched in 1973 and damaged during its own launch. Three crews lived aboard it after the first of them repaired it.

  • Revision: 1
  • Dates: 1973-05-14 to 1979-01-01 (day precision)
  • Last reviewed: 2026-08-14
  • Status: Re-entered in 1979
  • Also known as Orbital Workshop

Orientation

Role: Crewed orbital research station

Operator or programme: NASA

Geography: Low Earth orbit

Chronology

  1. day precisionSkylab enters the record.

Related records

  • explained by

    How do you repair a space station that was wrecked before anyone arrived?

    Confidence: high · 1973-05-14 (day precision)

  • relates to

    Serviceability, before and after it was designed in.

    Confidence: high · 1990-04-24 (day precision)

  • launched by

    The last Saturn V carried the station.

    Confidence: high · 1973-05-14 (day precision)

Inspect the record1 assertion, each with its source

  • The micrometeoroid shield deployed prematurely 63 seconds into flight and was torn off, removing thermal protection; debris jammed one solar array wing and the other was lost, leaving the station uninhabitable until repaired.

    Source class: space agency recordNASA — 50 Years Ago: Skylab 2, The "We Fix Anything" CrewView the source

CorrectionsNone recorded

No corrections recordedThis record has not been corrected since it was published.