Skylab 3 (also SL-3 and SLM-2) was the second crewed mission to the first American space station, Skylab. The mission began on July 28, 1973, with the launch of NASA astronauts Alan Bean, Owen Garriott, and Jack Lousma in the Apollo command and service module on the Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 59 days, 11 hours and 9 minutes. A total of 1,084.7 astronaut-utilization hours were tallied by the Skylab 3 crew performing scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Earth resources, and other experiments.
The crewed Skylab missions were officially designated Skylab 2, 3, and 4. Miscommunication about the numbering resulted in the mission emblems reading "Skylab I", "Skylab II", and "Skylab 3" respectively.
Robert L. Crippen
Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr
Karl G. Henize
F. Story Musgrave
William E. Thornton
Richard H. Truly
Mass: about
Maximum Altitude: 440 km
Distance: 24.5 million miles (39.4 million km)
Launch Vehicle: Saturn IB
Perigee: 423 km
Apogee: 441 km
Inclination: 50°
Period: 93.2 min
Docked: July 28, 1973 – 19:37:00 UTC
Undocked: September 25, 1973 – 11:16:42 UTC
Time Docked: 58 days, 15 hours, 39 minutes, 42 seconds
Garriott and Lousma – EVA 1
Start: August 6, 1973, 17:30 UTC
End: August 6, 23:59 UTC
Duration: 6 hours, 29 minutes
Garriott and Lousma – EVA 2
Start: August 24, 1973, 16:24 UTC
End: August 24, 20:54 UTC
Duration: 4 hours, 30 minutes
Bean and Garriott – EVA 3
Start: September 22, 1973, 11:18 UTC
End: September 22, 14:03 UTC
Duration: 2 hours, 45 minutes
While approaching Skylab a propellant leak developed in one of the Apollo Service Module's reaction control system thruster quads. The crew was able to safely dock with the station, but troubleshooting continued with the problem. Six days later, another thruster quad developed a leak, creating concern amongst Mission Control. For the first time, an Apollo spacecraft was rolled out to Launch Complex 39 for Skylab Rescue, made possible by the ability for the station to have two Apollo CSMs docked at the same time.