SKYLAB

America's Space Station

with Foreword by Ed Gibson

former NASA astronaut

Between May 1973 and February 1974, three teams of astronauts increased the American space endurance record from 14 days set in 1965 to three months aboard the Skylab space station, in missions lasting 28, 59 and 84 days. American astronauts did not surpass these records for over 20 years, until the NASA-Mir missions began in 1995.

Skylab evolved from plans to use Apollo lunar hardware for extended scientific missions in Earth orbit, becoming a platform for research in solar science, stellar astronomy, space physics, Earth resources, and life and materials sciences. Skylab was where Americans first learned the skill of truly living and working in space, even offering students the chance to fly their own experiments on the manned spacecraft.

In Skylab: America's Space Station, David Shayler chronicles the evolution of the station, its infrastructure on the ground including astronaut training, each of the three manned missions, and summarises the results, achievements and the lessons learned. The creation of the International Space Station is the real legacy of Skylab as American astronauts once again embark on extended missions around the Earth.