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 Skylab, seen from the departing Skylab 2 spacecraft | |
| Mission type | Crewed mission to Skylab |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1973-032A |
| SATCAT no. | 06655 |
| Mission duration | 28 days, 49 minutes, 49 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 18,500,000 km (11,500,000 mi; 10,000,000 nmi) |
| Orbits completed | 404 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Apollo CSM-116 |
| Manufacturer | North American Rockwell |
| Launch mass | 19,979 kg (44,046 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members | |
| EVAs | 3 |
| EVA duration | 5 hours, 41 minutes |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | May 25, 1973, 13:00:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Saturn IB SA-206 |
| Launch site | Kennedy, LC-39B |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | USS Ticonderoga |
| Landing date | June 22, 1973, 13:49:48 UTC |
| Landing site | 24°45′N 127°2′W / 24.750°N 127.033°W |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 428 km (266 mi; 231 nmi) |
| Apogee altitude | 438 km (272 mi; 237 nmi) |
| Inclination | 50° |
| Period | 93.2 minutes |
| Epoch | June 4, 1973[1] |
| Docking with Skylab | |
| Docking port | Forward |
| Docking date | May 26, 1973, 09:56 UTC |
| Undocking date | May 26, 1973, 10:45 UTC |
| Time docked | 49 minutes[2] |
| Docking with Skylab | |
| Docking port | Forward |
| Docking date | May 26, 1973, 15:50 UTC[2] |
| Undocking date | June 22, 1973, 08:58 UTC[3] |
| Time docked | 26 days, 11 hours, 2 minutes |
 Mission patch. Due to a NASA management error, crewed Skylab mission patches were designed in conflict with the official mission numbering scheme.  From left: Kerwin, Conrad and Weitz Skylab program | |
Skylab 2 (also SL-2 and SLM-1[4]) was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973,[5] and carried NASA astronauts Pete Conrad, Joseph P. Kerwin, Paul J. Weitz to the station. The name Skylab 2 also refers to the vehicle used for that mission. The Skylab 2 mission established a twenty-eight-day record for human spaceflight duration. Furthermore, its crew was the first space station occupants ever to return safely to Earth – the only previous space station occupants, the crew of the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission that had crewed the Salyut 1 station for twenty-four days, died upon reentry due to unexpected cabin depressurization.
The crewed Skylab missions were officially designated Skylab 2, 3, and 4. Miscommunication about the numbering resulted in the mission emblems reading "Skylab I", "Skylab II", and "Skylab 3" respectively.[4][6]
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ^ a b "PART III: Skylab Development and Operations: February 1970-November 1974 (continued)". Skylab: A Chronology. NASA. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- ^ Gatland, Kenneth (1976). Manned Spacecraft (Second ed.). New York: MacMillan. p. 223. ISBN 0-02-542820-9.
- ^ a b "Skylab Numbering Fiasco". Living in Space. William Pogue Official WebSite. 2007. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
- ^ "Skylab 2 (1973)". Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
- ^ Pogue, William. "Naming Spacecraft: Confusion Reigns". collectSPACE. Retrieved April 24, 2011.