On February 8, 1974, Skylab’s final manned mission (Skylab 4) left behind America’s first space station after a stay of 84 days during which its crew accumulated 1,214 Earth orbits, conducted more than 22 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA), and observed and photographed the Comet Kohoutek. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. held overall responsibility for the launch vehicles, many hardware elements, and numerous experiments.
This iconic photograph is an overhead view of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit, as seen from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) during the final fly-around before returning home. The crew of Skylab 4 included commander Gerald P. Carr, scientist-astronaut Edward G. Gibson, and pilot William R. Pogue. A 70mm hand-held Hasselblad camera was used by the crew to take this photograph.
Image credit: NASA