Editor’s note: This story was originally published on May 14, 2024.
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
Skylab, America’s first space station and the first crewed research laboratory in space, lifted off on May 14, 1973, on the last Saturn V rocket. For 24 weeks, the space station was occupied by three crews and helped push space exploration into space study.
“The Skylab space station marks the beginning of a new era in America’s manned spaceflight efforts,” the front page of the Deseret News article read.
There were some technical problems with the new space station right off the bat, but the issues were resolved and crewmen Charles “Pete” Conrad, Joseph P. Kerwin and Paul J. Weitz finally arrived at the station a few days later.
During its six years of service, the laboratory was used for many biomedical and technological experiments.
Three successive crews of visiting astronauts carried out investigations of the human body’s adaptation to the space environment, studied the sun in unprecedented detail, and undertook pioneering Earth-resources observations.
Of note, Utah’s native astronaut, Don Lind, was a key part of the NASA space program during those years and was tabbed to be on the Skylab 4 mission before it was canceled.
Lind, who piloted a Challenger space shuttle mission in 1985, later worked at Utah State University as a physics professor. He died in 2002 at age 92.
There are currently two space stations in active use: the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong station.
