Stephen Bowen remembers seeing Skylab fly overhead.
At eight years old, Bowen's experience watching the United States' first space station cross the night sky fueled his interest in spaceflight. Little did he know then, it would also play a big part of his future.
"I do remember that it was Skylab," Bowen said in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "My dad took us outside and we actually watched it fly over our house one night."
"I think that was the first object I saw in space, you know, as in a manmade object seen from Earth," he said.
Today (May 14), on the 50th anniversary of Skylab's launch, it is Bowen who is in Earth orbit. At 59, he is the only crew member currently on the International Space Station (ISS) who is old enough to remember the orbital workshop's start and the subsequent crewed expeditions.
"I do have very specific memories of those missions," said Bowen in January, a month before he and three crewmates lifted off on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for a six-month stay on the ISS.
