HUNTSVILLE – Pull out your bell bottoms and polyester and get ready to shake your groove thing!
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the history-making Skylab mission with a 1970s-themed party Sept. 29. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a social hour; the program is at 7 p.m.; and dining and dancing beneath the Saturn V is at 8 p.m.
David Hitt, author of “Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story,” is the emcee for the event, which includes a talk with Skylab 2 Astronaut Dr. Joseph Kerwin and Skylab 3 Astronaut Col. Jack Lousma.
Kerwin is a physician and served as a scientist and pilot on his Skylab mission. He was a Navy captain and served numerous roles at NASA during his career.
Lousma was a reconnaissance pilot for the U.S. Marines before becoming a NASA astronaut. He served as pilot of Skylab 3 and conducted two spacewalks on the mission. He later went on to command space shuttle mission STS-3.
The Marshall Space Flight Center managed the Skylab program, which was America’s first space station. Skylab lifted off May 14, 1973, on the last Saturn V rocket, and three crews of astronauts lived aboard the station on missions that lasted from 28 to 85 days from May to November 1973.
Skylab astronauts’ research on the effects of long-duration space flight on the human body helped prepare for future stays on the International Space Station.
Ticket sales for the event close noon Sept. 25. Visit rocketcenter.com for more information and to purchase tickets.
