U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps also the only space station NASA launched alone. The 100-ton space station was in Earth's orbit from 1973 to 1979 and it was visited by crews three times in 1973 and 1974. Circling 50 degrees north and south of the equator at an altitude of , Skylab had an orbital period of 93 minutes. There were a plethora of UV astronomy experiments done during the Skylab lifetime, as well as detailed X-ray studies of the Sun. The station was active until July 11, 1979, when it fell out of orbit. The 10-cent Skylab commemorative stamp first day of release took
Low Earth orbit millimeters, which are too small to be visible from Earth-based observatories. Low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is defined by Space-Track.org as an Earth-centered orbit with at least 11.25 periods per day (an orbital period of 128 minutes or less) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the manmade objects in space are in LEO orbits. A histogram of the mean motion of the cataloged objects shows that the number of objects drops significantly beyond 11.25. There is a large variety of other sources that define LEO in terms of altitude. The altitude of an object in