Editing Apollo program (section)

==Apollo Applications Program==
{{main|Apollo Applications Program}}

Looking beyond the crewed lunar landings, NASA investigated several post-lunar applications for Apollo hardware. The Apollo Extension Series (''Apollo X'') proposed up to 30 flights to Earth orbit, using the space in the [[Apollo (spacecraft)#Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA)|Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter]] (SLA) to house a small orbital laboratory (workshop). Astronauts would continue to use the CSM as a ferry to the station. This study was followed by design of a larger orbital workshop to be built in orbit from an empty S-IVB Saturn upper stage and grew into the Apollo Applications Program (AAP). The workshop was to be supplemented by the [[Apollo Telescope Mount]], which could be attached to the ascent stage of the lunar module via a rack.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/ch4.htm|title=A Science Program for Manned Spaceflight|date=January 1983 |access-date=June 11, 2016 |last1=Compton |first1=W. D. |last2=Benson |first2=C. D. }}</ref> The most ambitious plan called for using an empty S-IVB as an interplanetary spacecraft for a [[Manned Venus Flyby|Venus fly-by mission]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=j74hfnr889reqoinelc27u5877&action=dlattach;topic=34776.0;attach=584256;sess=0 |title=Manned Venus Flyby |date=February 1, 1967 |publisher=NASA |access-date=July 19, 2016}}</ref>

The S-IVB orbital workshop was the only one of these plans to make it off the drawing board. Dubbed [[Skylab]], it was assembled on the ground rather than in space, and launched in 1973 using the two lower stages of a Saturn V. It was equipped with an Apollo Telescope Mount. Skylab's last crew departed the station on February 8, 1974, and the station itself re-entered the atmosphere in 1979 after development of the [[Space Shuttle]] was delayed too long to save it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/ch19.htm|title=What Goes Up{{nbsp}}... |date=January 1983 |access-date=June 11, 2016 |last1=Compton |first1=W. D. |last2=Benson |first2=C. D. }}</ref><ref name="Legacy" />

The [[Apollo–Soyuz]] program also used Apollo hardware for the first joint nation spaceflight, paving the way for future cooperation with other nations in the [[Space Shuttle]] and [[International Space Station]] programs.<ref name="Legacy">{{Cite web|title=Legacy|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch13.htm|access-date=2023-02-12|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/astp.html |date=July 10, 2015 |title=Apollo-Soyuz: An Orbital Partnership Begins |publisher=NASA |access-date=July 19, 2016}}</ref>