1.
GV Capsule parachutes down to sea
0.19

2.
SV helicopter hovering
0.24

3.

0.30

4.
SV onlookers
0.34

5.
SCU Gibson out of capsule
0.56

6.
SV Sailors
1.01

7.
SV Progue out of capsule
1.09

8.
SCU Sailors
1.10

9.
SV Astronaut Carr out of capsule and seated on trolley with other astronauts
1.34



Initials GM/0123 GM/0106



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Skylab astronauts returned to Earth on Friday (8 February) after a record 85 days in the orbitting Skylab space station.

The astronauts--crew commander Lieutenant-Colonel William Carr, Dr. Edward Gibson and Colonel William Progue--splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 176 miles (283 kilometres) off the coast of California on Friday (8 February).

They amerced from the scorched Apollo capsule smiling and sporting bushy beards. They were unsteady on their feet after their 85 weightless days in space and had to be helped aboard the recovery ship New Orleans.

the astronauts--whose mission was marked by occasional blunders and low morale--brought back 20,000 photographs of the Earth and Sun, 19 miles (30.5 kilometres) of magnetic tape and the results of numerous experiments.

Doctors at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Centre at Houston, Texas, later reported that the three astronauts were in better condition than any other American astronauts returning from space.

The Skylab III mission was the last completely American-manned space mission planned for this decade.