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.

---

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

---

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

After Apollo 7, Mr. Cunningham served as chief of NASA’s Skylab program, which produced the first American space station.

From Washington Post • Jan. 5, 2023

Soon after Apollo 7, Mr. Cunningham was named director of what became known as the Skylab program, which developed America’s first space station.

From New York Times • Jan. 3, 2023

The Skylab space station was a research platform in orbit where astronauts helped scientists to study the human body's response to space flight, carried out experiments and made observations of the Sun and Earth.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2021

Much later, in 1973 and 1974, Project Skylab kept men in orbit for as long as eighty-four days, without harming them.

From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins