All missions

Every mission we cover, by year.

Filters1

Filter missions

Decade

Program

All programs

Program

Skylab (4)

Agency

All agencies

Agency

NASA (4)

Vehicle

All vehicles

Vehicle

Apollo spacecraft (4)
Saturn V (4)

Destination

All destinations

Destination

Low Earth orbit (4)

Outcome

Pete Conrad

Sort by

Photo: NASA / Public domain
Skylab

America's first space station, wounded at launch

Open mission

Skylab was NASA's first space station, built from Apollo hardware and launched on the last Saturn V on 14 May 1973. It lost its meteoroid shield and a solar array during the climb, was repaired in orbit by its first crew, hosted three crews for 171 days in all, and fell to Earth over Western Australia on 11 July 1979.
4 video perspectives
- How Skylab Was Saved: The Stuck Solar Array and Chance Tools
  
  A documentary on how Skylab was damaged during its Saturn V launch, when a heat shield was torn away and one solar array was left stuck.
  
  Published 18 Apr 2020
- Skylab: Damaged at Launch, Repaired in Orbit, Lost in 1979
  
  A history of Skylab, America's first space station, from the Apollo Applications Program origins and the switch from a wet to a dry workshop, through the damaged launch on May 14, 1973, the three…
  
  Published 5 May 2024
- Skylab: Rescue, Record Crews and Re-entry of NASA’s First Station
  
  A documentary history of Skylab, NASA's first space station, built from Apollo-era hardware.
  
  Published 16 Oct 2024
- Skylab: The Launch Damage, Rescue and Three Crews’ Record Stays
  
  A documentary on Skylab, NASA's first space station, built from Apollo hardware.
  
  Published 6 Feb 2026