Skylab

This is an image of the Saturn IB vehicle that lifted off on May 25, 1973, carrying the crew of the Skylab-2 (SL-2) mission. The Saturn IV launch vehicle was used to carry a crew of three astronauts to the Skylab. The SL-2 mission launched the first crew to the Skylab; astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad, Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz. This crew made urgent repair work on the damaged Skylab to make it operational and habitable. The goals of the Skylab were to enrich our scientific knowledge of the Earth, the Sun, the stars, and cosmic space; to study the effects of weightlessness on living organisms, including man; to study the effects of the processing and manufacturing of materials utilizing the absence of gravity; and to conduct Earth resource observations. The duration of this mission was 28 days.