1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: Well, this week, a lot of us have been watching 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: the sky as Artemis two blasted off with its malfunctioning 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: twenty three million dollar toilet, and on a more positive note, 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: has now taken human beings farther than anybody has ever 5 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: traveled away from Earth as far as we know. But 6 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: speaking of watching the sky, did you ever stop to 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 1: think about where all the stuff we send into space goes? 8 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steel. Maybe more anxiety inducing is this question? 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: What happens if what we send up comes back down 10 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: on top of us? That's next on the backstory. We're 11 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: back with the backstory. If space exploration is it at 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: all interesting to you? You've been watching the blast off 13 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: of Artemis two at its ten day trip around the 14 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: dark side of the Moon. It's taken four human beings 15 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: and their twenty three million dollar toilet farther than anybody 16 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: has ever traveled from our planet. What's interesting about these 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: missions is how completely controlled they seem to be from 18 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: start to finish. It seems clear that every individual on 19 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: board and working on the ground has been intensely trained 20 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: in mission protocol as well as what to do if 21 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,479 Speaker 1: anything goes wrong. But hey, stuff does go wrong. As 22 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: we know from several accidents in the space industry over 23 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:27,040 Speaker 1: the past six decades. On top of that, not everything 24 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: is completely under control the way you'd think. That's where 25 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: the astronaut's skill sets kick in. Okay, it's the summer 26 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy nine, ten years after man walked on 27 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: the Moon. People around the world suddenly start looking up 28 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: not for stars, not for planes, but for something much bigger. 29 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: A seventy seven ton space station called sky Lab is 30 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: falling out of the sky, and no one, not even NASA, 31 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: can say exactly where it's going to land. To understand 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: and how we got to this point, we have to 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: go back even further to nineteen seventy three. Skylab was 34 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: all about American ambition. It was a symbol of how 35 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: we saw ourselves. Launched by NASA just a few years 36 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: after the Moon landings, this thing wasn't just a spacecraft. 37 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: It was a home and laboratory in orbit around our planet. 38 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: Beginning in seventy three, astronauts lived there for weeks at 39 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: a time. They studied the Sun as well as how 40 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: the human body would adapt to the space environment, and 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: above all, they proved human beings could survive in space 42 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: longer than ever before. So what could go wrong? Well, 43 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: Skylab had a problem right from the very beginning. You see, 44 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: during launch, part of its protective shield simply ripped away 45 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: inside temperature's sword. For a moment, it looked like the 46 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: entire mission might fail, but within days another mission called 47 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: Skylab two launched, this time time with a crew on board. 48 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: The astronauts improvised for the first time ever, and they 49 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: did an in orbit repair on Skylab, saving the station 50 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: and turning what could have been a disaster into a triumph. 51 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: But here's the thing, Skylab was never meant to last forever. 52 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: Over the next six months, three groups of three astronauts 53 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: at a time came and went doing experiments and taking 54 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: incredible deep space photographs. So the first group, Skylab two, 55 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: was up for twenty eight days, the next group, called 56 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: Skylab three, spent sixty days on board, and the final crew, 57 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: Skylab four, was there for eighty four days. Each crew 58 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: member got to take a shower once a week, but 59 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: they joked about the difficulty of drying off in weightlessness 60 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: and having to vacuum up floating bits of water. In 61 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: a little over six years in space, Skylab traveled around 62 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: the Earth almost thirty five thousand times. But after that 63 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: initial six months, the final crew departed and left the 64 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: lab to orbit alone. So what happened next. By the 65 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: mid nineteen seventies, Skylab was empty, no astronauts, no missions planned. 66 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: It simply circled Earth silently waiting. NASA was planning to 67 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: push it into a higher orbit using a future Space 68 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: Shuttle mission, but the Shuttle wasn't ready yet. Then a 69 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: weird thing happened. Solar activity increased, heating Earth's atmosphere and 70 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: causing it to expand, and that created drag. Slowly, almost invisibly, 71 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: Skylab began to fall. Now it's nineteen seventy eight and 72 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: NASA knows it has a problem. Skylab's orbit is decaying 73 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 1: faster than they expected. They tried to adjust its orientation remotely, 74 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: but Siginis later said it was like trying to steer 75 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: a falling safe for miles away. The situation kept getting worse, 76 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: and now newspapers are picking up the story with headlines 77 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: that scream things like Skylab falling, Where will it hit? 78 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 1: Now it's more than a space story, it's a global 79 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: story because they have no idea how and where it 80 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: will hit the Earth. By early nineteen seventy nine, Skylab 81 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: was on everybody's mind. Late night TV guys joked about 82 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: wearing helmets. Some people bought Skylab insurance just in case 83 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: Debried crashed into their house. While governments quietly prepared for 84 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: a possible emergency. NASA released maps showing possible impact zones, 85 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: but that was kind of nerve racking because the maps 86 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: stretched across huge swaths of the planet. The truth was unsettling. 87 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: Nobody knew where this thing was going to land. Then 88 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: July eleventh, nineteen seventy nine, the moment arrives, Skylab plunges 89 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,719 Speaker 1: into Earth's atmosphere. Friction sets it on fire. The sky 90 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: lights up. A blazing contrail stretches across the Indian Ocean 91 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: and into Australia. Most of the station burns up, torn 92 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: apart by heat and pressure, but not all of it. 93 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: Chunks survive. Metal fragments rain down across western Australia near 94 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: a small town called Esperance. Thankfully, nobody's hurt, but like 95 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: something out of an old sci fi movie, actual chunks 96 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: of the space station are now sitting in the Australian outback. Finally, 97 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: on a humorous note, the little town of Esperance issues 98 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: a fine for littering yup, NASA, the most advanced space 99 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: agency in the world, is officially fined four hundred bucks 100 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: by a tiny Australian town with a good sense of 101 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: humor four hundred bucks for dropping space debris. As you 102 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: might expect, the fine went on paid for many years. 103 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: But then thirty years later, a djay at a radio 104 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: station in California decided to raise the money and pay 105 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: the fine on NASA's behalf a joke that turned into history. Fortunately, 106 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: Skylab's fall didn't become a tragedy and wasn't even destructive, 107 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: but it changed us. It made us feel space was closer, 108 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: more real, and more dangerous. Skylab proved something important, particularly 109 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: in light of the thousands of satellites we now have 110 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: orbiting the Earth. What goes up doesn't always stay there. 111 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: Skylab was a warning but also an important lesson for 112 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: one strange summer in nineteen seventy nine, and ever after, 113 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: we looked to the sky and share the same thought, 114 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: what if something up there lands on me? I hope 115 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: you like the backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review. 116 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: I would love it if you would subscribe or follow 117 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also feel 118 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: free to DM me if you have a story you'd 119 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and 120 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories 121 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 122 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 123 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 124 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 125 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 126 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,959 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 127 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't 128 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.