In a chat Monday between space station residents of today and yesteryear, the Expedition 8 crew aboard the International Space Station talked about their orbiting home with two astronauts who lived on Skylab three decades ago.

The Expedition 8 crew during Monday's talk. Photo: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

ISS commander Michael Foale and flight engineer Alexander Kaleri took a few minutes out of their day for a live event with Alan Bean, Apollo 12 moonwalker and commander of the second Skylab mission, and Bill Pogue of the final Skylab mission. Bean and Pogue were at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, site of the ISS science operations control center, for the 30th anniversary celebrations remembering Skylab -- America's first space station.

"It looks like you are floating around, just moving around, having a good time. It brings back a lot of good memories," Bean said.

"You know very well what it is like to live in space for a long time. Each day becomes a work day. There are special days, but there is a routine as well. We have tried to achieve that in the last three weeks. But we always remember each day that we are in a very special place," Foale said.

Foale and Kaleri were launched to ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on October 18. The main objective of their half-year stay aboard the station is to keep the outpost functioning while construction is halted by the Columbia accident. In addition to maintaining systems, the two men also oversee a variety of science experiments.

"My hats off to you up there. I only spent 59 days in space with my two crewmates and you're going to be up there six months. I know that it's a heck of a challenge and takes a lot of self discipline and knowledge," said Bean.

"It's not so difficult when you're well trained and well prepared," Foale replied.

"I remember that 30 years ago I was a first year student of aerospace specialty, and I was very interested in your flights, your three missions," said Kaleri, a veteran Russian cosmonaut with over 400 days of spaceflight experience from the old Mir space station. "And now I can understand all the difficulties you met in these missions."

The International Space Station is known to be noisy, with astronauts wearing earplugs while working.

Bean and Pogue at the ISS science operations center on Monday. Photo: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

"Listening to your talk, I don't hear much background noise," Pogue said. "Is it as quiet up there as it seems in this conversation?"

"Well actually, the lab is pretty quiet. And when experiments are not running it is quiet indeed. It depends on where you are, of course, Bill," Foale said from the U.S. Destiny laboratory module. "When you go near the large fans that are scrubbing the air in the (Russian Zvezda) Service Module, where the CO2 is being scrubbed, there is some noise there. Also where the air conditioning is taking place where the water is being taken out of the air here and recycled for us to drink. That also makes some noise.

"More towards the Russian segment you'll here more fan noise, more like a deep rumble, but it's a comforting sound. It means that everything is working well," said Foale.

Pogue then asked about the housekeeping chores aboard the ISS, adding that he had to vacuum the Skylab's dust filters every three days.

"We have a pretty powerful rocket vacuum cleaner," Foale answered. "On Saturday mornings we plan to go around to the filters and the fans and clean off the debris that collects there. They are a very good place to find things, as you probably know, that you may have lost or floated away during the week."

Skylab, a two-level workshop made from a converted Saturn rocket stage, was launched May 14, 1973 atop a Saturn 5. Weighing nearly 100 tons, it had the same volume as a small, three-bedroom house. Three different, three-person crews staffed Skylab and performed hundreds of solar and microgravity experiments.

Skylab's successes were not without its problems. About 63 seconds after launch, a meteoroid protection shield ripped and tore off a solar array panel, jamming and preventing the deployment of another. Skylab became subject to serious overheating.

The first crew launch, originally scheduled the day after Skylab's ascent, was delayed 10 days while teams at the Marshall Space Flight Center worked around the clock to devise fixes to the problem. Based on their efforts, the first Skylab crew of commander Pete Conrad, pilot Paul Weitz and scientist pilot Joe Kerwin, successfully erected a reflective parasol sunshade and cut a strap to open the remaining solar array. The mission continued until the crew returned to Earth June 22, 1973, after 28 days, clearing the way for the two follow-on missions.

The second flight with commander Alan Bean, pilot Jack Lousma and scientist pilot Owen Garriott, lasted 59 days. The third and final Skylab residents -- commander Gerald Carr, pilot Bill Pogue and scientist pilot Ed Gibson -- spent 84 days aloft.

Skylab reentered the atmosphere and broke apart in 1979.

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