How a 1973 NASA prank fooled mission control for 25 years

In 1973, astronaut Owen Garriott played an elaborate prank during the Skylab 3 mission, fooling mission control into believing his wife had visited the space station. The joke remained a secret for 25 years before finally being revealed at an anniversary celebration. The Skylab 3 mission launched on 28 July 1973 as the second crewed flight to NASA's Skylab space station. Garriott and his team spent 59.5 days in orbit, conducting experiments on how the human body adapts to weightlessness. Their stay set a new record for the longest spaceflight at the time.

During a routine radio check, Garriott played a pre-recorded tape of his wife Helen's voice. The recording made it sound as though she had arrived at the station with a hot meal and was admiring the view from space. Mission control, including Garriott's friend Bob Crippen, was left confused by the unexpected exchange.

The prank was never fully explained to the ground crew during the mission. Only years later, at a 25th-anniversary event, did Garriott and his colleagues reveal the truth. The Skylab programme went on to complete three crewed missions, with Skylab 4 wrapping up the final 84-day stay in early 1974. The prank became one of the lighter moments in Skylab's history. Garriott's joke highlighted the playful side of early space missions, even as astronauts carried out serious scientific work. The incident remained a well-kept secret until its eventual disclosure decades later.