WRT the whole "Gateway is not a space station since it is only periodically occupied" thing. Skylab was our "first space station" and it was always human-tended. This FGB/Node 1 configuration was human-tended for years but we called it a "international space station". Just sayin' pic.twitter.com/JCMIQQ6CsX — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) March 13, 2019

William R. “Bill” Pogue, former Skylab astronaut who grew up in Sand Springs, dies at 84, Tulsa World “Pogue, together with astronauts Gerald Carr and Edward Gibson, spent 84 consecutive days in space from 1973 to 1974 aboard Skylab, the first American space station. Their 12 weeks in orbit was a record at the time, topping the previous Skylab mission’s eight weeks. They orbited the earth 1,214 times while aboard […]

The skies. The limits: The international space station is one of humanity’s great engineering triumphs. But what is it for?, Washington Post “So even if the station’s life is extended beyond 2020, it is coming down, eventually. NASA could try to salvage a piece here and there, but there are no plans to deconstruct it, so the controlled de-orbit will be a spectacular, fiery event. Too big to burn up […]

NASA to Mark 40th Anniversary of Skylab and Life Off Earth “NASA will commemorate the 40th anniversary of America’s first space station Monday, May 13, with a televised roundtable discussion featuring Skylab astronauts, a current astronaut and agency managers planning future space missions.” Participants will include: – Owen Garriott, science pilot, Skylab 3 – Gerald Carr, commander, Skylab 4 – Kevin Ford, commander, International Space Station Expedition 34 – D. […]

The Skylab Trainer Is Still Rotting in Huntsville “The Skylab trainer built to train astronauts has been sitting outside at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville for a long time. Right now, as can be seen in the photo below, it is simply rotting away when simple measures to protect it could at least slow down the destruction.”

What Would NASA Do If A Soyuz Landed In America? (2003 – with NASA contingency plans), SpaceRef “As was the case with a Shuttle accident, NASA (in cooperation with Russia) has developed plans for what to do in case of a contingency Soyuz landing in North America. Although the entire, final plan has not been made public, we can provide, for the first time, portions of the plan under development […]