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
International Space Station leftover USOS hardware and '"Zvezda" 2' as a refuelling depot and service station located at one of the Earth-Moon Lagrange points, L1 or L2. The entire USOS cannot be reused and will be discarded, but some Russian modules are planned to be reused. "Nauka", the Uzlovoy Module, two science power platforms and "Rassvet", launched between 2010 and 2015 and joined to the ROS, may be separated to form OPSEK. "Nauka" will be used in the station, whose main goal is supporting manned deep space exploration. OPSEK will orbit at a higher inclination of 71 degrees, allowing observation to and from