Skylab Lifts Off

This photograph shows the launch of the SA-513, a modified unmarned two-stage Saturn V vehicle for the Skylab-1 mission, which placed the Skylab cluster into the Earth orbit on May 14, 1973. The initial step in the Skylab mission was the launch of a two-stage Saturn V booster, consisting of the S-IC first stage and the S-II second stage, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Its payload was the unmanned Skylab, which consisted of the Orbital Workshop, the Airlock Module, the Multiple Docking Adapter, the Apollo Telescope Mount and an Instrument Unit.