Skylab 2 was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973, and carried NASA astronauts Pete Conrad, Joseph P. Kerwin, Paul J. Weitz to the station. The name Skylab 2 also refers to the vehicle used for that mission. The Skylab 2 mission established a twenty-eight-day record for human spaceflight duration. Furthermore, its crew was the first space station occupants ever to return safely to Earth – the only previous space station occupants, the crew of the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission that had crewed the Salyut 1 station for twenty-four days, died upon reentry due to unexpected cabin depressurization.
Skylab, seen from the departing Skylab 2 spacecraft
L–R: Kerwin, Conrad, and WeitzSkylab program← Skylab 1Skylab 3 →
Paul J. Weitz, (left) Charles Conrad Jr. (middle); and Joseph P. Kerwin (right); in front of Skylab station on its Saturn V
View during a "fly around" inspection
Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory, Earth observation and hundreds of experiments. Skylab's orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.
Skylab as photographed by its departing final crew (Skylab 4).
Skylab configuration as planned
Von Braun's sketch of a Space Station based on conversion of a Saturn V stage, 1964
The floor grating of Skylab under construction