Skylab

American  

[skahy-lab] / ˈskaɪˌlæb /

noun

1. a U.S. earth-orbiting space station that was periodically staffed by three separate crews of astronauts and remained in orbit 1973–79.

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Skylab British  

/ ˈskaɪˌlæb /

noun

1. a US space station launched in May 1973 into an orbit inclined at 50° to the equatorial plane at a mean altitude of 430 kilometres (270 miles), the astronauts working there under conditions of zero gravity. It disintegrated, unmanned, in 1979, with some parts landing in the outback of Australia

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Etymology

Origin of Skylab

C20: from _sky + _lab ( _oratory )

Example Sentences

The orbit of the American space station Skylab is deteriorating; history tells us that parts of it came down in … Western Australia, in 1979.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 2, 2024

That is barely more than the American Skylab that launched in 1973, and it is less than the Mir space station that the Soviet Union began assembling in space in 1986.

From New York Times • Dec. 12, 2022

It's been almost half a century since the three astronauts on board the Skylab 4 space mission famously fell out with mission control.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2021

He also designed instruments used aboard Skylab and space shuttle flights and for satellites measuring polar auroras and luminescence in the upper atmosphere.

From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2020

Instead of landing on Brisbane, Skylab broke up, with some parts falling into the Indian Ocean off Western Australia.

From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge