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NASA astronaut Ed Gibson went to space in 1973 as part of the Skylab 4 mission, the final crew to visit the only fully-US operated space station. He was the last person out the door.

Gibson was selected by NASA as a scientist-astronaut and was part of the support crew for Apollo 12 before being selected to spend time on the space station.

We spoke to him about his time on board the station, the food he eat while in space, and whether he would go up to space again if given the opportunity.

He specialised in solar physics and observed flares from the sun while onboard the orbiting laboratory, laying the groundwork for future work exploring our star and forecasting solar weather.

‘We can look at the corona, the region around the sun, just like we do down here. But on Earth we have to wait for a solar eclipse, up there we could see the atmosphere of the sun anytime we were in sunlight,’ he said.

The astronaut is the last surviving member of ‘Skylab 4’ the final mission of three to go to the station, launching in 1973. Along with commander Gerald Carr and pilot William Pogue, he spent 84 days in space on the station.