The United States’ first space station, Skylab, was launched by NASA.

On 14 May 1973, NASA launched Skylab, the United States' first space station, aboard a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

It was built as an orbital laboratory for scientific research.

Its mission was to study long-duration human spaceflight, the Sun, Earth, and microgravity.

Three crewed NASA missions visited Skylab between 1973 and 1974.

On 11 July 1979, the 77-ton Skylab reentered Earth's atmosphere and broke apart.

Because unexpectedly high solar activity accelerated its orbital decay, delays in the Space Shuttle program prevented NASA from boosting it into a higher orbit.