CHARLES CONRAD'S FLOWN SKYLAB I MISSION EMBLEM, CARRIED ON THE 28 DAY EARTH ORBITAL FLIGHT

FLOWN Skylab cloth emblem, 4 inches in diameter. Featuring the Skylab Space Station in orbit while the Earth eclipses the Sun in the background. The emblem is mounted above paragraphs on a Typed Letter Signed by CHARLES CONRAD. All on an 11 by 17 inch tan mat board displaying a color photograph of Skylab in Earth orbit. The portable sun shield erected by Conrad’s crew is clearly visible as well as the missing solar panel that would have been on the left side.

With CHARLES CONRAD'S signed provenance letter, which reads in part: "I was commander of the first manned mission to Skylab. Our flight was delayed ten days in order to make plans for repairing the damage that occurred just minutes into the launch of Skylab, known as the SL-1 mission. This patch was carried with us during the launch of SL-2 Saturn IB vehicle on May 25, 1973, and flew in space for 28 days. My crew and I made repairs to Skylab during that time to enable a full-duration mission. We returned to Earth on June 22, 1973. CHARLES CONRAD, Skylab I CDR." The Skylab Program had three manned missions during 1973 and 1974 lasting 28, 59, and 84 days. The station had a multitude of science experiments including solar, cosmic, earth resources, and with human adaptation studies on the effects of long term exposure to weightlessness. The large space station slowly fell to earth, re-entering with fragments impacting Australia in 1979.