The Skylab Space Station
The Skylab space station was established to prove that people could survive for long periods in space. The three crews that visited Skylab spent a combined total of over 171 days aboard the station providing the scientific community with invaluable research information.
Flights:
| Mission Name: | Skylab 1 |
| Crew: | N/A |
| Milestones: | ~Skylab Space Station is launched into space aboard a Saturn V rocket ~ A meteoroid shield was damaged during liftoff and put station at great risk. ~Last flight of the Saturn V Rocket |
| Launch Date: | May 14, 1973 |
| Mission Duration: | Was in orbit for 6 years |
Manned Missions:
| Mission Name: | Skylab 2 |
| Crew: | Pete Conrad Jr., Commander (4) ^ Paul J. Weitz, Pilot (1) Joseph Kerwin, Scientist (1) |
| Milestones: | ~First U.S. space station crew ~First to visit and live on the Skylab space station. ~Crew had to perform EVAs to fix the solar panel and deploy a sunshade to cool off the damaged station. ~ Brought entire station back up to full operational status ~Set new U.S. space endurance record ~Pete Conrad is the first of three moon walkers to make a return trip to space after their lunar landing mission. |
| Launch Date: | May 25, 1973 |
| Mission Duration: | 28 days |
Pete Conrad graduated from Princeton University in 1953 with a degree in aeronautical engineering. He entered the Navy and completed test pilot school before his selection to the second group of NASA astronauts in 1962. At just 5 feet 6 inches tall, he was the shortest of the astronauts. But he had one of the largest personalities of anyone in the group. He made his first trip into space on the eight day flight of Gemini 5 in 1965. He and command pilot Gordon Cooper* broke all of the then standing Soviet space endurance records. The next year Conrad commanded Gemini 11 which featured Agena dockings, and spacewalks by Richard Gordon. On Apollo 12 Conrad commanded the second manned lunar landing mission, and became the third man to walk on the moon. Conrad made his fourth and final flight as commander of Skylab II, the first U.S. space station crew. He was the first person that had previously walked on the moon to return to outer space. Conrad celebrated his birthday during this 28 day mssion. Pete Conrad left NASA in 1973 and went into the private business sector. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1999 at the age of 69.
| Mission Name: | Skylab 3 |
| Crew: | Alan L. Bean, Commander (2) ^ Jack R. Lousma, Pilot (1) Owen K. Garriott, Scientist (1) |
| Milestones: | ~Second crew of Skylab space station. ~Preformed many medical & scientific experiments |
| Launch Date: | July 28, 1973 |
| Mission Duration: | 59 days |
| Mission Name: | Skylab 4 |
| Crew: | Gerald P Carr, Commander (1) William R. Pogue, Pilot (1) Edward G. Gibson, Scientist (1) |
| Milestones: | ~Last Skylab Mission ~Broke all previous U.S. space endurance records ~Longest space flight in U.S. history until the missions of the international space station. ~Crew was subject to a great deal of stress, and stopped accepting orders from mission control during the mission. This was excellent psychological information for the effects of long duration space flight. ~The Skylab 4 mission and its all rookie crew was the only Apollo mission that was not commanded by a veteran astronaut. |
| Launch Date: | November 16, 1973 |
| Mission Duration: | 84 days |
Numbers in parentheses indicate number of flights flown by astronaut. (1) indicates their first space flight. An (*) asterisk after a name denotes one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. (^) indicates that the astronaut has either orbited or walked on the moon.
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