Skylab Skylab Skylab was a United States space station launched and operated by NASA, and occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974 – the only space station the U.S. has operated exclusively. In 1979 it fell back to Earth amid huge worldwide media attention. Skylab included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems necessary for crew survival and scientific experiments. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a weight of . Lifting Skylab into low earth orbit was the final mission and launch of a Saturn V rocket (famous for carrying the
Space Station Freedom complete station is manned by 6 but may be increased to 7), and the station's functions were reduced. Space Station Freedom Space Station "Freedom" was a NASA project to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union address, "Freedom" was never constructed or completed as originally designed, and after several cutbacks, the project evolved into the International Space Station program. As the Apollo program began to wind down in the late 1960s, there were numerous proposals for what should follow it. Of the