July 1969, saw a spellbound thirteen-year-old boy, sat in his pyjamas in front of a flickering black and white television, to watch the first moon landing, and whilst he never grew up to be an astronaut as he planned that evening, he never lost that sense of wonder whenever he looks up the night sky.

From the technology of an oversized black and white television to Blu Ray, the intervening years have not diminished that sense of wonder.

Searching for Skylab, is an award-winning documentary from director Dwight Steven-Boniecki about the NASA space station.

It is a story that has largely been forgotten. However, the Skylab missions were responsible for an incredible array of scientific discoveries before it dramatically crashed into Western Australia in 1979. The missions have provided the scientific community with countless and invaluable information about our planet, the sun, space and the universe itself.

Occupied by three separate teams for 24 weeks between 1973 and 1974, Skylab is the forbearer of the International Space Station (ISS) and is one of mankind’s greatest engineering feats.

Using stunning re-mastered and never-before-seen footage, Searching for Skylab reveals the incredible feats of science and technology achieved by the space station and the NASA astronauts upon it.

Ed Gibson with Al Shepard

Additional interviews from the engineers and their families tell the story of those behind the scenes, and reveal the human side of what it was like to live through one of the most exciting times for space exploration in human history.

This is riveting stuff, a fascinating untold story /documentary, including all the history of the project to create the first American Space Station. It includes lots of interviews with the engineers, astronauts and scientists that were involved with it.

Ed Gibson just egressed Eva Hatch

It tracks from the early moments, through issues to fix, to its final days. It holds the attention so that it is easy to overlook some loose editing in the section around engineering, but perhaps people devoted to engineering would disagree.

This will appeal to space nerds everywhere and anyone even slightly interested in space.

There are so many tales of which I had no knowledge, and I loved the fact that it is a personal story with plenty of endearing anecdotes from the astronauts who spent time on the space station.

It is a very human story with lovely candid interviews.

Runs for 98 fascinating minutes that made me wish that I had become an astronaut after all.

Images courtesy of NASA

https://searchingforskylab.com/the-movie/