Update 6-23-2018: The original upload channel has been deleted. This article has been replaced by a new one for the 45th anniversary of the Skylab 2 mission here: https://www.xadara.com/skylab-the-first-40-days/
Switching gears just a bit back to space, we have this nice little film from the mid 70’s regarding the first manned Skylab mission.
Skylab was the first (and technically only) United States space station, launched in early 1973 on the final Saturn V rocket to fly. The station was actually built from the S-IVB stage of a Saturn rocket, modified to act as an orbital workshop and solar observatory.
From 1973 into 1974, 3 manned missions of 3 men each, using surplus Apollo hardware, lived on the station for increasing periods of time, the first crew living on-board Skylab for 40 days.
Their mission was an interesting one, in that their original plan of simply reaching the station and conducting research became that of a rescue mission for the station, which was damaged during launch. The film goes into good explanation on what the crew actually did when they got up there, and is a nice enough documentary on the events of Skylab 2 – some footage is old stock footage, such as one close view of the Skylab space station launch, but a majority of the rest of it is proper footage from Skylab 1 and 2.
A little dry, sure, and the quality here isn’t that great, but it’s worth a watch if you like this kind of stuff. I for one love the story of Skylab so, naturally, I’m happy whenever this film shows up as a suggestion on YouTube.
Enjoy!