This work investigates the operational realities and human experiences of living aboard the Skylab space station during the 1970s. Henry S. F. Cooper Jr., a long-time contributor to The New Yorker, utilizes his access to NASA records and interviews with crew members to document the transition from short-term orbital missions to long-duration space habitation. The book argues that the success of Skylab provided the necessary technical and physiological data to prove that humans could survive and work effectively in a microgravity environment for extended periods.

Experts recognize this book as a primary historical account of early American space station operations. Readers frequently note the journalistic clarity of the prose, which makes complex orbital living conditions accessible to a general audience.