50 years of NASA's Skylab: Interesting facts about America's first space station

Skylab, America’s first space station and first crewed research laboratory in space was launched on May 14, 1973, which would be 50 years ago today, according to NASA's official website. "Clouds of smoke billow out over the surrounding area as the uncrewed Skylab 1/Saturn V space vehicle launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 14, 1973," read the press release on NASA's official website. The major components of the space station are the orbital workshop, Apollo Telescope Mount, multiple docking adapters, and airlock module.

Further, Skylab 2 was launched to the space station on May 25, 1973, on an Apollo command and service module, and carried NASA astronauts Pete Conrad, Joseph P. It paved the way for permanent operations in low-Earth orbit. Over the course of its human occupation from May 25, 1973, to Feb. 8, 1974, three crews visited Skylab and carried out 270 scientific and technical investigations in the fields of physics, astronomy, and biological sciences, according to NASA. Taking to Twitter, NASA Marshall wrote, "Image of the day: Clouds of smoke billow out over the surrounding area as the uncrewed Skylab 1/Saturn V space vehicle carrying the Skylab 1 payload launches from @NASAKennedy on May 14, 1973."

📸 Image of the day: Clouds of smoke billow out over the surrounding area as the uncrewed Skylab 1/Saturn V space vehicle carrying the Skylab 1 payload launches from @NASAKennedy on May 14, 1973.

Learn more HERE>> https://t.co/Hf9Acg29Hd pic.twitter.com/qEti4PmmQn

— NASA Marshall (@NASA_Marshall)

Interesting facts about the SkyLab 

• From its launch on May 14, 1973, until the return of its third and final crew on Feb. 8, 1974, the Skylab program proved that humans can live and work in outer space for extended periods of time.
• Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joe Kerwin were the crew members who spent 28 days in orbit as the first crew of Skylab. 
• The second crew, which included Alan Bean, Jack Lousma and Owen Garriott, spent 59 days in space. 
• The final Skylab crew spent 84 days in space in which Jerry Carr, Bill Pogue and Edward Gibson took part.
• The record set by the final crew was not broken by an American astronaut until the Shuttle-Mir program more than 20 years later.
• Skylab served as the greatest solar observatory of its time, a microgravity lab, a medical lab, an Earth-observing facility, and, most importantly, a home away from home for its residents. 
• The program also led to new technologies. Special showers, toilets, sleeping bags, exercise equipment and kitchen facilities were designed to function in microgravity.
• On July 11, 1979, Skylab re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, dispersing debris across a sparsely populated section of western Australia and the southeastern Indian Ocean.