Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Happy anniversary to Skylab’s criminal record


On July 11, 1979, the U.S. space station Skylab accomplished two feats: Re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere, and wrack up a mild criminal record Down Under. It's well known that Skylab's decent from orbit was ummm less than perfect. The miss-calculated trajectory led to a barely controlled deorbit that sent Skylab into Australia’s Western regions. Specifically, the town of Esperance, which was blanketed with a light coating of miniscule Skylab debris — enough to earn the U.S. State Department a $400 fine for littering that — 28 years later — remains unpaid.

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