Skylab: NASA’s Best-Kept Secret| Apollo’s Leftovers | S20-E1
American Innovations
Audible
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2019
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Fifty years ago, America’s space program achieved its greatest triumph, when Apollo Eleven put the first men on the moon.
The Apollo program was a remarkable success story. But as NASA was sending men to the moon, they were engaged in another, less celebrated project — one even more important than the moon landings to humanity’s potential future in space. That project was called Skylab — America’s first space station.
Chances are you’ve never heard of Skylab. If you know anything about it at all, you know that after it was launched into orbit, it came crashing back down to Earth. But before that crash, Skylab taught NASA more things about living and working in space than any program before it.
So why did one of the engineers who worked on Skylab once call it “the little redheaded bastard out behind the barn”? Why do so many accounts of NASA’s achievements barely mention it? Why have most Americans never heard of America’s first space station?
You can binge all episodes of American Innovations exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to an episode of a Wondery Plus exclusive series. |
| 0:03.6 | To continue listening, join Wondery Plus and enjoy Ad Free Listening to over 40,000 episodes, |
| 0:08.9 | early access to your favorite podcasts and more. |
| 0:11.6 | Find Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple |
| 0:14.2 | podcasts. |
| 0:17.0 | It's 5 a.m. on June 30th, 1971 in a remote corner of the Soviet Union. |
| 0:31.6 | A Russian helicopter pilot hovers his craft over the flat featureless landscape, scanning |
| 0:37.7 | the horizon. |
| 0:39.5 | Somewhere out there, a spacecraft carrying three Soviet cosmonauts is about to land. It's his job to |
| 0:46.4 | intercept it and recover the crew. The co-pilot taps the pilot's shoulder and points up |
| 0:52.2 | ahead. There, there! There it is. pilot from a 23 day stay aboard the world's first space station, |
| 1:04.3 | Salute 1. |
| 1:06.3 | The pilot radios back to base to tell them the good news, |
| 1:09.2 | then guides his helicopter towards the module |
| 1:11.7 | as it slowly descends on its white parachutes. |
| 1:15.2 | This is a triumphant moment for the Soviet space program. |
| 1:18.7 | For centuries, humans have dreamed of living in space, and now the crew of Soyuz 11 have become the first to do it. |
| 1:26.5 | There 23 days in space have set a new endurance record. In a puff of dust, the module touches down on the barren steps. |
| 1:35.4 | The helicopter pilot radios the cosmonauts to signal his approach. |
| 1:39.8 | But there's no response. |
| 1:41.9 | Something is wrong. The helicopter touches down about a hundred yards |
| 1:46.6 | from the reentry module. The recovery team springs into action, rushing to Soyuz |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audible, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Audible and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.