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Remembering Skylab

Posted by michael on from the don't-look-up dept.

linuxwrangler writes "It was 30 years ago today that NASA launched Skylab, the first US space station. An article at New York Times remembers Skylab. It was hardly a flawless launch with a meteroid shield getting ripped loose causing one of the solar arrays to partially deploy and then be blown into space by the exhaust from a retro-rocket but the speed and effectiveness of the astronauts' repairs showed human's ability to operate in space and helped pave the way for today's projects. Skylab reentered on July 11, 1979 leaving a debris field across parts of Western Australia and the Indian Ocean."

3 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Oops, make that 30 years. by linuxwrangler · · Score: 3, Informative

    So my fingers don't always aim right before my first cup of coffee. The "2" should have been a "3".

    Now that I've made my "off by one" error for the day I can safely proceed with real work.

    --

    ~~~~~~~
    "You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
  2. I remember the crash. by torpor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm from Perth, and remember staying up all night to try and catch a glimpse of Skylab as it came crashing down.

    The next day there were news reports on big chunks that had landed all over the place. Nobody was hurt if I remember correctly, but it was funny to see one picture of a typical Aussie wheatbelt'er, standing next to a big ball of shredded super hight tech O2 tank in the middle of his paddock.

    That really was the beginning of my personal "Space Love Era", heh heh ... Skylab, you piece of shit you! Why didn't you stay up!!!

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  3. Last of an Era by sohp · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Skylab station was carried into space on the last of the Saturn V rockets to be launched. Hats off to the most powerful booster ever built. The Saturn V achieved a perfect launch record, rare in any rocket, much less a big one. Its computer was attached to the inside walls of a 1x6.7 meter ring, but your PDA is easily more powerful. Nevertheless the computer even demonstrated it could withstand a direct strike by lightning, twice, on the Apollo 12 launch and still keep going.