#sl-4

Portraits of all three Skylab Astronaut crews.

"This 'Christmas tree' was created by the three crewmen of the third manned Skylab mission (Skylab 4) aboard the space station in Earth orbit. Food cans were used to fashion the tree. This photograph was made from a television transmission made from a video tape recording on Dec. 24, 1973."

Date: December 24, 1973

The final view of Skylab, from the departing SL-4 after 84 days in the orbiting laboratory.

"An overhead view of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM-118) during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home. The space station is contrasted against a cloud-covered Earth.

Note: the solar shield which was deployed by the second crew of Skylab and from which a micrometeoroid shield has been missing since the cluster was launched on May 14, 1973. The OWS solar panel on the left side was also lost on the workshop's launch day."

Date: February 8, 1974

"A sunrise view at the Kennedy Space Center showing in the near distance the Skylab 4/Saturn 1B space vehicle on Pad B, Launch Complex 39, on the morning of the launch. The liftoff was at 9:01:23 a.m. (EST), Friday, Nov. 16, 1973. Skylab 4 is the third and last of three scheduled manned Skylab missions. Aboard the Skylab 4 Command/Service Module were astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson and William R. Pogue. This picture was photographed by astronaut Bruce McCandless II."

Date: November 16, 1973

"SKYLAB IV - INFLIGHT

This view of the Skylab 4 Command/Service Module in a docked configuration is a frame from a roll of movie film exposed by a 16mm Maurer camera. The other four components of the Skylab space station in Earth orbit are out of view to the right. This picture was taken by astronaut Gerald P. Carr, Skylab 4 commander, during the final Skylab extravehicular activity (EVA) which took place on Feb. 3, 1974. The crew members -- Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue -- were the first NASA astronauts to spend New Year's in space. A week earlier, they became the first crew to perform an EVA on Christmas day."

Date: February 3, 1974

Skylab IV Saturn IB (CSM-118/SA-208) is rolled to Launch Complex 39, Pad B. "The space vehicle, to be launched by the Saturn IB, will carry the third Skylab crew (Skylab 4) to the now-orbiting Orbital Workshop (OWS) and the other four components making up the cluster. The Skylab crewmen, astronaut Gerald P. Carr, commander; scientist-astronaut Edward G. Gibson, science pilot; and astronaut William R. Pogue, pilot, are scheduled to be launched from here in November 1973."

Date: August 14, 1973

"The Skylab 4 Command Module splashes down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego, California at 10:17 am. The Command Module bobs in an apex-down configuration (stable two) in the calm water of the Pacific Ocean 176 miles southwest of San Diego, California, following a successful splashdown and 84-day mission in Earth orbit."

"A smiling William R. Pogue pauses in hatchway of Skylab 4 command module during recovery activities today aboard the USS New Orleans at the completion of man's longest space journey to date. Pogue splashed down with astronauts Gerald P. Carr and Dr. Edward G. Gibson, 84 days after the trio was launched by a Saturn IB rocket from Kennedy Space Center. Circling the globe 1, 214 times aboard the sophisticated Skylab space station during the nearly three-month flight, the astronauts demonstrated man's ability to live and work in space for extended periods."

Date: February 8, 1974

"The Saturn IB S-IB (S-IB-8) first stage being prepared for shipment at Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), near New Orleans, Louisiana. Developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center and built by the Chrysler Corporation at MAF, the S-IB stage utilized the eight H-1 engines and each produced 200,000 pounds of thrust, a combined thrust of 1,600,000 pounds."

Date: January 1968