Skylab 4

Skylab 4 was the third and final crewed visit to NASA's Skylab space station. Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue launched from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39B on November 16, 1973, aboard Saturn IB SA-208 and docked with Skylab later that day. All three were first-time spacefarers, and their mission pushed U.S. long-duration operations to just over 84 days. The crew carried out solar astronomy, Earth resources observations, medical and physiology work, technology demonstrations, student investigations, and Comet Kohoutek observations. Gibson's solar-physics background supported extensive Apollo Telescope Mount operations, while the crew completed four station EVAs involving experiment installation, photography, cassette replacement, and experiment recovery. The Apollo spacecraft undocked on February 8, 1974, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego near 31°18'12" N, 119°48'12" W after 84 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes, and 32 seconds in space.