On the 50th anniversary of Skylab, the nation’s first space station launching into orbit, SPACE : 50 Years of Cosmic Exploration takes a look back at the “race to space.”  Learn about the origins of the space program and how the Cold War motivated and challenged the top scientists, mathematicians and pilots in the country to explore space and its celestial bodies. Orbiting the Earth for the first time, landing on the moon, creating Skylab and then later the International Space Station—these were some of the successes in the decades-long effort in which great achievements were accompanied by failure, tragedy and, above all, resilience. Today, there is renewed interest in space exploration and the desire to reach higher and farther than ever before.