SKYLAB PROGRAM

formerly Apollo Applications Program space program of the United States that launched its first space station (named Skylab) into Earth orbit on May 14, 1973, by means of a Saturn V rocket. Three successive teams of astronauts conducted experiments in geography, engineering, earth resources, biomedicine, and other scientific areas in and from Skylab between May 25, 1973, and Feb. 8, 1974, for a total of 171 days in space. Skylab's orbit was then adjusted to an altitude believed sufficient to keep the craft in space until 1983, when the orbit would again be adjusted in the future space-shuttle program. Increased sunspot activity, however, caused greater atmospheric drag on Skylab than had been predicted, and the space-shuttle program was delayed. Skylab first wandered from its orbit in June 1978 and finally broke into the Earth's atmosphere on July 11, 1979, the first pieces striking the Earth's surface at 5:37 PM Greenwich Mean Time in the Indian Ocean and southwestern Australia.