There was a dispute between ground control in the astronauts that some call a mutiny, but others disagree with. In the mission’s 84 days - the longest manned excursion at the time - a lot happened. One of those more memorable excursions was NASA’s Skylab 4 in 1973-4, which Bill Pogue ( reported dead yesterday at 84) took part in. The decision to do that was built on years, nay, decades of experience of long-duration spaceflights and studies on how the human body changes, both in the American and Russian programs.
As the International Space Station prepares to host its first one-year visit next year, it’s worth remembering that NASA didn’t just decide to send one of its astronauts into space that long suddenly.
