The Skylab space station had a few good years in space — fewer than NASA wanted and not as good as NASA wanted — before falling to Earth in a rain of debris.
America's first space station, launched in May 1973 as a science and engineering laboratory, was not a success. Originally intended to remain in orbit as a shelter for crews from the new space shuttle program, Skylab was badly damaged during liftoff and plagued thereafter by a power deficit that played a significant role in its premature demise.
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