# Skylab 2: Human Ingenuity Saves Space Station
Published: January 26, 2026
Duration: 1:43
# Astronomy Tonight Podcast
This is your Astronomy Tonight podcast.
Well hello there, stargazers! Welcome back to our show. Today we're celebrating a rather *explosive* anniversary in the cosmos—and I mean that quite literally!
On January 26th, 1972, the absolutely magnificent **Skylab 2 mission** launched from Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronaut Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz, and Joe Kerwin to rendezvous with America's first space station, Skylab. But here's where it gets really interesting: the original Skylab had launched just ten days earlier, and it had suffered *catastrophic damage* during ascent—a micrometeorite shield had torn away, expo...
This is your Astronomy Tonight podcast.
Well hello there, stargazers! Welcome back to our show. Today we're celebrating a rather *explosive* anniversary in the cosmos—and I mean that quite literally!
On January 26th, 1972, the absolutely magnificent **Skylab 2 mission** launched from Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronaut Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz, and Joe Kerwin to rendezvous with America's first space station, Skylab. But here's where it gets really interesting: the original Skylab had launched just ten days earlier, and it had suffered *catastrophic damage* during ascent—a micrometeorite shield had torn away, expo...