Skylab 4 crew blasts off on ‘holiday cruise’ to space station 40 years ago this hour (1973)


Video: 'Skylab 4 Part 2 CBS News Coverage of Launch' (launch at 10:19)

(Friday, November 16, 1973, 9:01:23 EST; part of NASA’s Skylab program) — Three rookie American astronauts rocketed safely into orbit this morning to start man’s longest space voyage, an 84-day “holiday cruise” aboard the Skylab space station. It was the third and final manned mission to the station.