The Skylab was a Human space station active in the late 20th century.
History and specifics[]
The station was placed into Earth orbit by the United States of America with NASA overseeing the facility. The solar-powered Skylab could house three astronauts. These astronauts were transported to the facility and were returned to Earth by a command/service module from the Apollo program. (TOS novel: Assignment: Eternity)
Skylab launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida in 1973. Converted from the shell of a Saturn V, the station weighed 78 tons, was 29.3 meters long and 7.2 meters in diameter, and completed an orbit every 102 minutes. Facilities included crew quarters, a laboratory, an airlock and a docking adaptor.
Mission crews took detailed photos of Earth with high-resolution cameras and studied the long-term effects of zero gravity on Human health. Three crews visited the station, one of which remained aboard for 84 days and 1,214 orbits.
Newsweek magazine published a report on the launch in 1973. (ST reference: Spaceflight Chronology)
- Skylab was launched on 14 May 1973 and reentered Earth's atmosphere on 11 July 1979. Pete Conrad was a member of Skylab's first crewed mission.
Legacy[]
In 2364, Geordi La Forge recalled Skylab during a spacewalk when he spotted a similar-looking cylinder he assumed had been used by a larger space station's construction crew. (TNG novel: The Peacekeepers)
Appendices[]
References[]
External links[]
- Skylab article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Skylab article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.