STARLAB

Classification: Technological item (orbiting space station) 

Creator: Unrevealed; 
    possibly Phillip Prometheus

User/Possessors: Phillip Prometheus

First Appearance: (Mentioned; unseen) Micronauts I#4 (April, 1979);
    (seen) Micronauts I#5 (May, 1979)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: Starlab was an orbiting space station. It was presumably designed to sustain a permanent orbit around Earth, and it likely allowed monitoring of both terrestrial and spatial conditions.

    It's medical systems were sufficiently advanced, per Prometheus' design, that they could save a human from injury by rebuilding him or her as a cyborg.

History:
(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus flew solo aboard the orbiting Starlab space station.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus designed Starlab's medical systems. 

(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - There was some kind of accident on Starlab.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - The rest of Prometheus' crew, who were outside Starlab, were killed by cosmic radiation. 

(Micronauts I#5 (fb)) - Inside the ship, Prometheus was near death, but Starlab's medical systems replaced his damaged organs with jury-rigged bionics, saving his life.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus was driven insane by the experience, and he soon perceived himself as more than a mere man.

(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - When Prometheus came back to Earth, he was made an administrator; he did not fly on further missions.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden, and Josef Rubinstein.

    Starlab was obviously patterned after Skylab, the USA's first station, which orbited Earth from 1973-1979 until its orbit decayed (apparently delays in the Space Shuttle program prevented repair/correction efforts) and it crashed to Earth. Skylab crashed to Earth in July, 1979, while the stories first mentioning and the picturing Starlab had the cover date of April-May, 1979, meaning they probably actually came out in February-March, 1979 or something like that.

    I'm not sure that we ever learned Starlab's fate. Depending on the timing, it could be associated with Egghead's Space-Lab.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Starlab should be distinguished from:

• Starcore One - Starcore project research base, moved to solar orbit, destroyed by Shi'ar wormhole--Incredible Hulk II#148
• Starcore station - incorporated temporal weapons designed for Tony Stark by Immortus, destroyed by War Machine (James Rhodes)--Force Works#20
• Starcore station - Starcore solar research base headed by Peter Corbeau--X-Men Unlimited I#13
• Egghead's NASA Space-Lab - Stolen from Cape Canaveral by Egghead. Defenders I#43
• S.T.A.R. Labs of a Distant Cosmos - Science and Technology Advanced Research--Superman#246
  
• other Star, Lab, or other space stations, satellites, etc.

images: (without ads)
Micronauts I#5, pg. 9, panel 3 (exterior);
            panel 4 (interior; Prometheus transformed into cyborg)

Appearances:
Micronauts I#4-5 (April-May, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Michael Golden (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last Updated: 08/07/17

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