14th MAY 1973

On this day in 1973, the first U.S space station was launched into orbit around the Earth. The unmanned station, named Skylab, was 35.96 metres tall and weighed 77 tonnes and was launched by a modified Saturn V rocket. It orbited the Earth between 1973 and 1979 with a total of three manned mission visiting the station in that time. Each mission was completed by three crew members.

Some of the systems and equipment within Skylab included an Apollo Telescope Mount (a multi-spectral solar observatory), two docking ports, an Airlock Module with EVA hatches and the Orbital Workshop (the main habitable volume of the station).

It was powered by solar arrays and fuel cells. The rear of the station included a large waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets and a heat radiator.

The station was damaged at launch with the micrometeroid shield tearing away from the station, consequently depriving the station of most of it spower and removing protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make the station unusable. The first mission crew were able to complete the first ever in-space repair attatching a replacement heat shade and freeing the remaining jammed solar array.

Using Skylab, crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the sun, take thousands of photographs of the Earth and scan the Earth using sensors that recorded data in the visible, infrared and microwave spectral regions. 
Initial plans were made to refurbish the Skylab so it could continue to be used. However the delay of the launch of the Space Shuttle which was to boost Skylab's orbit and repair it, resulted in Skylab re-entering Earth's atmosphere and disintegrating in 1979.

Debris from the re-entry crashed into parts of Western Australia including the coastal town of Esperance. In fact, the Esperance City Council fined the United States $400 for littering as a result of the falling debris. It was not until April 2009 that the fine was paid when Highway Radio host Scott Barley raised the funds from his morning show listeners and paid the fine on the behalf of NASA.

In another surreal event, The San Fransisco Examiner offered a $10 000 prize for the first piece of Skylab to be delivered to their offices. 17-year-old Stan Thornton collected a few pieces of Skylab off the roof of his home in Esperance, caught the first flight to San Fransisco and collected his prize.

Some of which he probably used to pay for his flight back home.




Imageavailable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab