America's first space station, Skylab, was launched into Earth's orbit on this day, May 14, 1973.
The unmanned space station blasted off into space on a modified Saturn V rocket at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Skylab website reports.
This was the last time the Saturn V rocket was used in spaceflight, according to Space.com.
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The launch of the space station was not without complications.
“Technical problems arose almost immediately due to vibrations during takeoff,” NASA's website says.
The Saturn V rocket shown above. America's first space station, Skylab, was launched into Earth's orbit on this day, May 14, 1973. (UPI Color/Bettmann File/Getty Images)
“A critical meteor shield detached, taking with it one of the ship's two solar panels and a piece of the shield wrapped around the other panel, preventing it from deploying,” he said.
To solve this problem, and prevent the future Skylab crew from suffering dangerously high temperatures due to the lack of meteor protection, NASA engineers “'spinned' Skylab to lower the workshop temperature,” the study also noted. website.
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Skylab 2, the mission that sent Skylab its first crew, was delayed 10 days to teach astronauts how to mitigate damage the space station suffered during liftoff, NASA said.
Astronaut Owen Garriot is seen here at the Apollo telescope mount console on the Skylab space station group's multi-docking adapter. (NASA/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Skylab finally received its first three-man crew on May 25, 1973.
Commander Charles “Pete” Conrad, pilot Paul J. Weitz and science pilot Joseph P. Kerwin would remain aboard Skylab for the entire 28-day mission, NASA said.
The crew would make history many times during their journey into space.
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“On June 7, 1973, on their 14th day in space, Conrad and Kerwin floated out of Skylab's Airlock module. They set up a 25-foot pole with a wire-cutting tool on the end that partially closed over the tether. aluminum shield that held down the solar panel,” NASA said.
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The two carefully went to the solar wing and tied a rope to try to free the stuck panels.
“Kerwin closed the jaws of the cutting tool the rest of the way, cutting the metal strap,” NASA's website continued.
A full view of the Skylab Space Station, seen here against a black sky background. Skylab was launched into orbit on this day, 1973. (NASA/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
“The solar wing opened partially, but its hinge had frozen in the cold of space, preventing it from opening fully.”
He added: “Conrad and Kerwin pulled the rope to overcome the frozen hinge and the wing opened completely, bouncing the astronauts; fortunately, the straps on their spacesuits prevented them from floating into space.”
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The spacewalk was a success and Conrad and Kerwin became the first astronauts to perform a “repair spacewalk,” NASA said.
Furthermore, the duration of his spacewalk, three hours and 25 minutes, was a record.
When the three astronauts returned to Earth, 28 days and 50 minutes after liftoff, they had set a new record for longest human spaceflight, NASA said.
They were also the first astronauts to return alive from a mission to a space station, NASA also noted. (The crew of the Soviet space station Salyut 1, the world's first space station, died upon re-entry.)
Owner Tom Swanner of Long Beach, California, put up a large “bullseye” sign to welcome Skylab home. The space station did not land at his house, but parts of it landed in the Indian Ocean and in Australia. (Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images)
Skylab would remain in space until July 11, 1979, when it disintegrated in Earth's atmosphere, according to Space.com.
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Parts of Skylab were found in Australia and the Indian Ocean, and one Australian city even fined NASA for littering, the site added.
The space station had been unoccupied since February 1974, when the Skylab 4 crew returned to Earth, NASA said.
The ISS is a partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries that contributed different parts.
Today, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth at an average altitude of 400 kilometers (248 miles). It circles the globe every 90 minutes, and in one day the station travels about the distance it would take to go from Earth to the Moon and back, according to Space.com.
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At night, the ISS is visible from Earth, says the same source: “it appears as a moving luminous point of light and rivals in brightness the bright planet Venus. It can be seen without the use of a telescope by sky watchers.” nocturnal who know when and where to look.”
The ISS is a partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries that contributed different parts, Space.com also noted.
The ISS contains parts “provided by the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and the countries that make up the European Space Agency.”
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