In their hurry to get ahead in the Space Race, the Soviets also suffered setbacks, along the way helping the U.S. to learn what not to do. The USSR was the first to launch a space station of any kind, called the Salyut 1, but flaws in the docking mechanism prevented the first attempt at its boarding. A later second attempt went better, but the capsule carrying the crew back exploded in the atmosphere during re-entry. The U.S. waited a little longer to get their station up, but they preferred to do it right the first time.

On this day, May 14, in 1973 the Skylab space station launched into space. Eleven days later it made a successful rendezvous with the its first inhabitants, a three-man crew that would stay at the station for four weeks.

Skylab’s fourth-generation successor, the Skylab 4 became the site of the first, and possibly only mutiny in space. The group of astronauts aboard were loading up the station with thousands of instruments and supply packages, a task at the same time tedious and tiring. The hours were long, and ground control complained they were falling behind, while the astronauts complained they were working too hard. Finally, the crew on board had enough and declared an unauthorized day off for themselves. They reportedly spent it relaxing and enjoying the views of earth.