Video: 'Apollo Skylab 1 Launch May 14, 1973.mp4'

(Monday, May 14, 1973, 1:30:00 p.m. EDT, during the Space Race) — Skylab, the first space station of the United States, was launched uncrewed today from Cape Kennedy, Florida, but was seriously damaged during liftoff.

Video: 'Apollo Skylab 1 Launch May 14, 1973.mp4'

NASA officials said that 63 seconds after an almost perfect launch, “an accidental signal” from ground control at Cape Kennedy loosened a protective micrometeorite shield and caused a malfunction in two of Skylab’s four solar panels, removing half of its electrical power.

The scheduled May 15 liftoff of the Skylab crew was postponed.

Video: 'KNBC-4 KNXT-2 May-14-1973 Skylab-1 Launch'

The Skylab 2 space mission, with U.S. astronauts Pete Conrad, Paul J. Weitz, and Joseph P. Kerwin, was launched on May 25, 1973, to repair damage.

Using a vehicle and equipment from the canceled Apollo 18 mission, Skylab 2 was the first crewed space mission for the U.S. since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

Video: 'Skylab 1 & 2 Part 2 NBC News Coverage of Launch'

Skylab would be operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4 through February 1974.

Major operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory, Earth observation, and hundreds of experiments.