English: An overhead view of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in Earth orbit as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home.

During launch on May 14, 1973, 63 seconds into flight, the micrometeor shield on the Orbital Workshop (OWS) experienced a failure that caused it to be caught up in the supersonic air flow during ascent. This ripped the shield from the OWS and damaged the tie-downs that secured one of the solar array systems.

Complete loss of one of the solar arrays happened at 593 seconds when the exhaust plume from the S-II's separation rockets impacted the partially deployed solar array system. Without the micrometeoroid shield that was to protect against solar heating as well, temperatures inside the OWS rose to 126°F.

The rectangular gold "parasol" over the main body of the station was designed to replace the missing micrometeoroid shield, to protect the workshop against solar heating. The replacement solar shield was deployed by the Skylab I crew.