Suggested Searches

1 min read

Overhead View of Skylab From Orbit

An overhead view of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Module
An overhead view of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home.

An overhead view of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) 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 micro meteoroid shield has been missing since the cluster was launched on May 14, 1973. The Orbital Workshop (OWS) solar panel on the left side was also lost on workshop launch day. Inside the Command Module (CM) when this picture was made were astronaut Gerald P. Carr, commander; scientist-astronaut Edward G. Gibson, science pilot; and astronaut William R. Pogue, pilot. The crew used a 70mm hand-held Hasselblad camera to take this photograph.