NASA had studied various concepts for a space station, including inflatable donuts, Chesley Bonestell's magnificent "Wheel," and various other designs since the earliest beginnings of the space program. When the Saturn rocket was developed in the mid-'60s, enabling some heavy lifting into space, the Skylab Program began to take shape. Following cancellation of Apollo 18, 19 and 20, we had a lot of hardware lying around gathering dust, so we put it to some remarkably good use.

American manned space station. First US space station. The project began life as the Orbital Workshop- outfitting of an S-IVB stage with a docking adapter with equipment launched by several subsequent S-1B launches.Launched 1973. Curtailment of the Apollo moon landings meant that surplus Saturn V's were available, so the pre-equipped, five times heavier, and much more capable Skylab resulted.

America's first space station and first crewed research laboratory in space was to prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods, and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based observations. The program was successful in all respects despite early mechanical difficulties.

Skylab weighed about 100 tons, and its launch marked the last launch of the wonderful Saturn V, the rocket that never failed. It had a volume of 283.17 cubic meters and was separated into two "floors;" the "upper" floor contained storage lockers and a large empty space for conducting experiments, and two airlocks, one pointed "down" toward the earth and the other "up" toward the sun; the "lower" floor was divided into rooms including a dining room with a table, three bedrooms, a work area, a bathroom, and a shower. The floors consisted of an open gridwork that fit cleats on the bottom of the astronauts' shoes.