Yesterday, June 22nd, marked the 45th anniversary of the end of the Skylab 2 mission, a 28 day stay on America’s first (and so far, only) space station.
As I covered extensively in May, Skylab was heavily damaged during its launch, and the Skylab 2 mission had to be delayed for 10 days while a plan to repair this damage was devised, and the necessary equipment was constructed and loaded onto the Apollo command module that was to carry the Skylab 2 crew to the space station.
This vintage NASA film covers the absolutely amazing story of the first manned Skylab mission. From the launch of the space station and discovery of damage, the careful balancing act in safely orienting the station that was done to keep it both powered but not getting too hot in direct sunlight, the race to figure out solutions, and the actual mission of Skylab 2 itself, including the repairs as well as day to day operations.
Remember, this is a 1973 NASA film – it isn’t the most exciting video, but it is damned informative. It’s amazing to see actual footage of the station during the repairs, and to hear the actual communications as everything went on, as well as see what was “normal” for living inside of what amounted to a converted rocket stage!
As you can tell, I absolutely love the Skylab story, and am happy to share this video with you, now that the anniversary of the event has come and gone. Coming up later in the year I have articles on Skylab 3 and 4 planned, but for now, let’s just enjoy Skylab: The First 40 Days.
Yes, I realize I’ve shared this previously. That article has since been replaced by this one, as the old upload was lost due to that channel being terminated by YouTube, and this article is for the 45th anniversary of the end of the Skylab 2 mission.