Salyut 1 and Sky Lab

The First Human Space Station

The Russians lost almost all hope of sending men to the Moon by the time of Apollo 17. The only Russians ever to visit the Moon were robots. The Russians focused their efforts on a space station in Earth orbit. They launched the Salyut 1 space station in April 1971, the tenth anniversary of the first spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin. The name Salyut (salute) was a tribute to Gagarin, who had died in a plane crash in 1968. Salyut 1 was made of a single, cylindrical module with space for three cosmonauts to live and work in Earth orbit for weeks at a time.

Salyut 1’s first inhabitants were a trio of cosmonauts who spent a record-breaking 22 days aboard the station. Sadly, the three died when an air valve inside their Soyuz taxi spacecraft opened before re-entry. This forced a hiatus in the Russian space station program until 1973.

In May 1973, the U.S. launched Skylab, its own space station. It was constructed from leftover Apollo hardware, including the third-stage booster Saturn V moon rocket. Skylab was designed to be an orbiting research facility. It had as much living space as a small house.

During Skylab’s launch, a protective micrometeoroid shield was torn off by aerodynamic stresses, taking off one of the station’s two power-producing solar panels with it. The second panel became snared by a piece of the torn shield and failed to extend. After arriving onboard the station in late May, Skylab’s first crew, led by Apollo moonwalker Pete Conrad, extended a reflective sunshield above the exterior of the station, which allowed temperatures to come down. Conrad and physician-astronaut Joe Kerwin then made a spacewalk, wearing long-handled cutting shears, which they used to successfully free the stuck solar panel. Skylab was restored to full working order.

The next Skylab crew, led by Alan Bean, stayed on board for 56 days. The final crew, led by rookie Gerry Carr, stayed for 94 days, leaving in early 1974.

Skylab provided new photos of the Earth, thousands of images from a high resolution solar telescope, and medical data on the human body’s responses to long duration spaceflight. However, plans for a second Skylab were scrapped. NASA instead concentrated its efforts on developing a space shuttle.