“America’s first space station,” Skylab, was launched in 1973 on the last Saturn V rocket flown. The mission, coming on the heels of the final Apollo Moon landing, concluded nine months later in February 1974 with the successful return of a third astronaut crew that spent a then-record 84 days in space. 

Skylab was featured on our Feb. 18, 1974, cover, and an accompanying article by Erwin J. Bulban noted that data yielded by the program would aid the design of systems for the upcoming space shuttle. It also laid the groundwork for longer-duration astronaut missions. “Skylab has shown the way,” proclaimed then-NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher. 

“While it was basically an experimental space station, it nevertheless possessed many qualities and ingredients that will characterize operational missions for the future.” 

The program would go on to win the 1973 Collier Trophy. NASA hoped to re-use Skylab by having a space shuttle boost it to a higher orbit, but the station’s orbit decayed before the shuttle was operational. It reentered Earth’s atmosphere and broke up over the Indian Ocean and Australia on July 11, 1979.

Read the Feb. 18, 1974 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. 

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