Stephen Bowen remembers seeing Skylab fly overhead. At eight years old, Bowen's experience watching the United States' first space station cross the night sky fueled his interest in spaceflight.

Before the International Space Station existed, before U.S. astronauts shared space on Russia's space station Mir, America's first home in Earth orbit was Skylab. The converted upper stage of a ...

In the 1970s, America’s first space station allowed three crews of astronauts to conduct hundreds of experiments. Skylab, however, is mostly remembered for the frenzy surrounding its return to Earth ...

Space stations, big metal tubes in low-Earth orbit pressurized to roughly the same atmospheric pressure you'd find on sea level so a bunch of squishy, fragile meat sacks can conduct science ...

The unmanned Skylab station launched May 1:30 p.m. May 14, 1973 from the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida. A critical meteoroid shield ripped off taking one of the craft's two solar panels ...

On May 14, 1973, the final Saturn V rocket lifted off to deploy Skylab, America’s first space station. Despite a troubled start to its life, Skylab pioneered long-duration spaceflight, and fifty years ...

August 19, 1966: The details may be lacking, but all the major components of this concept sketch made it into the creation of Skylab, NASA’s first space station. 1966: Concept sketch of Skylab. Image ...

In 1979, NASA knew that the 78 1/2-ton Skylab was starting to deteriorate and would re-enter the earth atmosphere. They knew it would break apart and that some 25 tons would fall to Earth but they ...