Witness NASA's Rockets as They're About to Leave the Earth
Skylab (1973) (By Nasa on the Commons, flickr.com) Launched on May 14, 1973, this beauty's duties were to orbit the Earth from 1973 to 1979 and collect data. It acted as a revolving observatory, laboratory, and workshop, and was finally returned to Earth on July 11, 1979. 6.