The Apollo Program

Skylab

Skylab was the first US space station. Skylab itself was launched on May 14, 1973. It contained provisions and crew quarters necessary to support three-person crews for periods of up to 84 days each. Skylab was 91 metric tons, four stories high, 6.7 meters in diameter and flew at an altitude of 270 miles. Three different Apollo crews manned Skylab during its 9 month mission. The empty Skylab spacecraft returned to Earth July 11, 1979 scattering debris over the Indian Ocean and the sparsely settled region of Western Australia.