Editing Skylab (section)

=== Completion and launch ===
[[File:SKYLAB I - view from a distance.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Launch of the modified [[Saturn V]] rocket carrying the Skylab space station]]

On August 8, 1969, the [[McDonnell Douglas|McDonnell Douglas Corporation]] received a contract for the conversion of two existing S-IVB stages to the Orbital Workshop configuration. One of the S-IV test stages was shipped to McDonnell Douglas for the construction of a mock-up in January 1970. The Orbital Workshop was renamed "Skylab" in February 1970 as a result of a NASA contest.<ref>{{harvp|Benson|Compton|1983|p=115}}.</ref> The actual stage that flew was the upper stage of the AS-212 rocket (the S-IVB stage, S-IVB 212). The mission computer used aboard Skylab was the [[IBM]] [[System 4 Pi|System/4Pi]] TC-1, a relative of the [[IBM System/4 Pi|AP-101]] Space Shuttle computers. The Saturn V with serial number SA-513, originally produced for the Apollo program – before the cancellation of Apollo 18, 19, and 20 – was repurposed and redesigned to launch Skylab.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tate |first=Kara |title=Skylab: How NASA's First Space Station Worked |website=[[Space.com]] |date=May 12, 2013 |type=Infographic |url=http://www.space.com/21055-skylab-space-station-nasa-infographic.html |access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> The Saturn V's third stage was removed and replaced with Skylab, but with the controlling [[Saturn V Instrument Unit|instrument unit]] remaining in its standard position.

Skylab was launched on May 14, 1973, by the modified Saturn V. The launch is sometimes referred to as Skylab 1. Severe damage was sustained during launch and deployment, including the loss of the station's [[micrometeoroid]] shield/sun shade and one of its main [[Solar panels on spacecraft|solar panel]]s. Debris from the lost micrometeoroid shield became tangled in the remaining solar panel, preventing its full deployment and thus leaving the station with a huge power deficit.<ref>{{harvp|Benson|Compton|1983|pp=253–255}}.</ref>

Immediately following Skylab's launch, [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Pad 39A]] at [[Kennedy Space Center]] was deactivated, and construction proceeded to modify it for the Space Shuttle program, originally targeting [[Cancelled Space Shuttle missions#STS-1A|a maiden launch in March 1979]]. The crewed missions to Skylab would occur using a Saturn IB rocket from Launch Pad 39B.

Skylab 1 was the last uncrewed launch from LC-39A until February 19, 2017, when [[SpaceX CRS-10]] was launched from there.