The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973,[5] and carried NASA astronauts Pete Conrad, Joseph P. Kerwin, Paul J. Weitz to the station.

Without the shield which was designed to also provide thermal protection, Skylab baked in the Sun, and rising temperatures inside the workshop released toxic materials into the station's atmosphere and endangered on-board film and food.

Booster performance was nominal except for one momentary glitch that could have threatened the mission – when the Commit signal was sent to the Saturn at ignition, the instrument unit sent a command to switch the launch vehicle from internal to external power.

Then they undocked so that Conrad could position the CSM by the jammed solar panel, so that Weitz could perform a stand-up EVA, trying to free the array by tugging at it with a 10-foot hooked pole, while Kerwin held onto his legs.

[12] Two weeks later, Conrad and Kerwin performed a second EVA, finally freeing the stuck solar panel and increasing the electrical power to the workshop.

[8]: 271–276  During this EVA, the sudden deployment of the solar panel structure caused both astronauts to be flung from the station's hull, testing their nerves as well as the strength of their safety tethers.

The mission tracked two minutes of a large solar flare with the Apollo Telescope Mount; they took and returned some 29,000 frames of film of the sun.

The mission ended successfully on June 22, 1973, when Skylab 2 splashing down in the Pacific Ocean 9.6 km from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga.

In an article for Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact magazine, Freas said, "Among the suggestions the astronauts had made was the idea of a solar eclipse as seen from Skylab.