Skylab, the first American space station, is known to many people – if at all – as a failure. The documentary „Searching for Skylab“ by Dwight Steven-Boniecki proves that Skylab was, on the contrary, a great success in spaceflight. On Thursday, 15 November 2018, at 18.30 h, the film will be shown to the Swiss public in an exclusive preview at the KOSMOS cinema in Zurich. The filmmaker will then be a guest in Ben Moore’s „Cosmic Talk“.

When the Saturn V rocket lifted off with Skylab on board in Florida on 14 May 1973, everything looked like a picture-book launch at first. This changed in a flash 63 seconds after the launch, when the micrometeorite shield and a solar panel were torn off the station when the sound barrier was breached. The space station reached the planned orbit, but many things on board Skylab did not work. In addition, the internal temperature rose sharply because the lack of a protective shield was also intended to provide thermal protection.

NASA engineers quickly developed a makeshift shield that the first Skylab crew had to install before they could carry out the planned experiments. Between May 1973 and February 1974, a total of nine astronauts visited the space station. Skylab then remained unmanned over Australia until the crash on 11 July 1979. The general public remembered Skylab as a failure, mainly because of the crash.

Documentary tells the story of success

That Skylab was on the contrary a great success is hardly known to this day. This should definitely change with the new documentary by Dwight Steven-Boniecki. In „Searching for Skylab“ the astronauts talk about their work, which made the missions a resounding success. The legacy of Skylab continues to this day.

Swiss preview in Zurich

On Thursday, 15 November 2018 at 18.30 h, the KOSMOS cinema in Zurich in partnership with the Swiss Space Museum will be showing the documentary „Searching for Skylab“ in an exclusive Swiss preview on the occasion of the visit of Dwight Steven-Boniecki. The filmmaker will be a guest in Ben Moore’s „Cosmic Talk“ at 20.30 h. During the show, Skylab astronaut Ed Gibson (picture) will also be connected live via Skype.

Dwight Steven-Boniecki will already be in KOSMOS at 17.30 h and will be available for questions. Besides merchandising items and rare memorabilia about Skylab and more can be bought.

By the way: Did you know that the University of Bern had an experiment on the Skylab space station? One of the original Skylab foils from the University of Bern will be shown to the public for the first time at the preview event.

Tickets (you’ll need one for each event)

Tickets for the preview of „Searching for Skylab“ are available at the following link:
https://kosmos.ch/programm/filmprogramm/searching-for-skylab/116212/nach-datum?date=2018-11-15

Tickets for the „Cosmic Talk“ by Ben Moore are available at the following link:
https://ticketonline.kosmos.ch/Kosmos/Show/180448/