Purgatory Post commemorates Skylab 3 mission

Purgatory Post on August 30 issued the latest in its series of stamps celebrating the 50th anniversaries of various United States space missions. The pair of 3-sola stamps commemorate the 50th anniversary of Skylab 3; that mission lasted from July 28 until September 25, 1973.

One of the stamps pictures astronauts Owen Garriott, Jack Lousma, and Alan Bean along with the launch of their spacecraft. The other stamp pictures the Skylab station along with the Skylab III mission patch.

You may notice the Skylab patch reads “Skylab II” rather than “Skylab III.” According to an insert included with the cover in which these stamps were mailed to me, “Miscommunication about the numbering system resulted in the mission badge reading ‘Skylab II.’” You would think we could at least number things correctly in the space age, but apparently not.

Skylab 3’s crew returned to earth after spending 59 consecutive days in space, which set a record at that time.

Published 2023-09-11