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The Skylab program was the next step in NASA history following the success of the Apollo program. Launched just before Apollo 18 (the penultimate Apollo mission), Skylab was the first American space station and it took over as NASA's flagship program following Apollo 19's return in April 1974. The first Skylab (sometimes referred to as Skylab A) resulted in several scientific breakthroughs, including the confirmation of coronal holes in the Sun, as well as gathering plenty of data from scans of the Earth. Skylab B, which was initially held in reserve in case something went wrong with Skylab, eventually launched in 1977, after Skylab's orbit had begun to decay (it would eventually fall back to Earth in 1979). Skylab B itself continued the original's scientific gains, notably conducting more detailed scans of the Earth and studying the effects of long-term spaceflight on both humans and other organisms.

Skylab was viewed initially by NASA as a precursor to the establishment of a lunar base and eventually landing a man on Mars, something that was enthusiastically supported by the Humphrey administration (Humphrey famously proclaimed that the Apollo missions had opened a "larger frontier" and that his administration would work to put a man on Mars by the year 2000). However, after a decade of funding the expensive Apollo program, congressional opposition to another massive space endeavor forced Humphrey's hand on the NASA budget, accelerating the end of the Apollo program (the Saturn rocket that would have been used for Apollo 20 was instead used to bring Skylab into orbit) and the beginning of the development of the Space Shuttle, a reusable rocket that would be used for the final Skylab B missions. Subsequent administrations' cutbacks to the NASA budget scrapped both the lunar base and possibility of a Mars landing, forcing NASA to rely on probes to explore space as well as the Martian surface. Despite the push of several prominent NASA alumni, including former presidential candidate and senator John Glenn, for an eventual return to human exploration, very little change has occurred in Washington, and while President Patrick has pledged to increase NASA's budget, Capitol watchers remain skeptical that it will amount to more than an increase in climate science research.

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