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May 1973 -- Skylab
After conquering the moon, Americans set their sites on creating a permanent human presence in space and building reusable space shuttles that could supply and support such existence. Designed as a temporary living space, Skylab housed three astronauts during each of three missions. Its purpose was to perform scientific experiments, including the study of weightlessness and its effects on humans over time, observation of the sun to study high-energy solar activity, and execution of experiments designed by students for a "Classroom in Space" program. The longest Skylab mission lasted nearly three months. Most of Skylab burned upon re-entry in the Earth's atmosphere in 1979, five years after it was abandoned. More Views: |