1973
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Events
- May 14 - The first space station is launched into orbit. Named "Skylab", its purpose is to further the research the effects of weightlessness.
The station was occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974, and operated by three separate three-astronaut crews.
Major operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory, Earth observation, and hundreds of experiments.
Unable to have its orbit be re-boosted, Skylab's orbit eventually decayed, and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on in 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.
- The "Pioneer 10" probe becomes the first to reach Jupiter.
It is also the first probe to send back close-up images of the planet.
- "Pioneer 11" is launched on a mission to study the Solar System, tasked mainly with studying the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, solar winds, and cosmic rays.
It was also the first probe to encounter Saturn, the second to fly through the asteroid belt, and the second to fly by Jupiter.
- Probe "Mariner 10" is launched towards Mercury, becoming the first probe to reach the planet.
The first spacecraft to perform flybys of multiple planets (Mercury and Venus), its mission objectives were to measure Mercury's environment, atmosphere, surface, and body characteristics - and then to make similar investigations of Venus.
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