I hope so. But anything that falls out of the sky in Australian remains the property of the Commonwealth. I have meteorite fragments in display cases in my lounge room...but what can I do with them? I have filed down pieces of the solar system mixed into my oil paintings of space art but I can't promote them as such. Just conversation pieces really...but no one even cares about that either...the best thing about Skylab for me is I got to meet a guy that did time on board...Alan Bean.
I think being aboard Skylab would have been better than going to the moon. Charles Conrad and Al Bean did both. A documentary I once seen described Skylab as a 'One hundred ton hotel'. Imagine living in a three-bedroom house orbiting the earth and floating from room to room. It's a shame that Skylab was abandoned so soon. It's like NASA was on overdrive and then there was nothing. There's still pretty much nothing 30 years later. The Skylab 3 splashdown is a sad image to me.
For the most part it was an empty hull but it was an important first step in working out how to put very large working modules into orbit. It sustained damage during lift off and astronauts had to cary out extensive repairs in orbit. Much was learned from this. The plan was to use it again when the shuttle went into service but it never happened in time and the orbit decayed.
Without Saturn V they never again had the ability to launch such large payloads in one go. Very sad.
@tpsossff Yeah, I remember my uncle saying back in about May 1979 that 'Why don't they just tow it back out into space?' Even at eleven-years-old I knew the answer why NASA couldn't. The night Skylab fell on us I will never forget. We had running updates on the radio and television and NASA said that Skylab was in 'Ex-tumbling Mode'...impact point Northern Atlantic, 11:18pm. My sister and I went to bed and were woken by sonic booms about 12:30am....Skylab had arrived in Western Australia....
Were you one of the lucky ones that found a bit of the debris? I bet every kid in Western Australia was out looking for it next day. Fortunately the heavier elements such as the one ton film safe fell into the ocean or well clear of populated areas.
@tpsossff Nah, I found nothing out there. My dad said he did and I've seen the crap he collected from out there. Maybe, maybe not I don't know. He moved over seas and it all resides in my sister garage. I must pay her a visit and have a look. It would be twenty years since I've been inside there. All I know is we have Skylab debris at Fremantle harbor and I intend to verify that too.
Very interesting reading your first hand accounts guys. Shame it came down so soon.
fredintheshed1 5 months ago
I hope so. But anything that falls out of the sky in Australian remains the property of the Commonwealth. I have meteorite fragments in display cases in my lounge room...but what can I do with them? I have filed down pieces of the solar system mixed into my oil paintings of space art but I can't promote them as such. Just conversation pieces really...but no one even cares about that either...the best thing about Skylab for me is I got to meet a guy that did time on board...Alan Bean.
shelkamark 1 year ago
I think being aboard Skylab would have been better than going to the moon. Charles Conrad and Al Bean did both. A documentary I once seen described Skylab as a 'One hundred ton hotel'. Imagine living in a three-bedroom house orbiting the earth and floating from room to room. It's a shame that Skylab was abandoned so soon. It's like NASA was on overdrive and then there was nothing. There's still pretty much nothing 30 years later. The Skylab 3 splashdown is a sad image to me.
shelkamark 1 year ago
@shelkamark
For the most part it was an empty hull but it was an important first step in working out how to put very large working modules into orbit. It sustained damage during lift off and astronauts had to cary out extensive repairs in orbit. Much was learned from this. The plan was to use it again when the shuttle went into service but it never happened in time and the orbit decayed.
Without Saturn V they never again had the ability to launch such large payloads in one go. Very sad.
tpsossff 1 year ago
@tpsossff Yeah, I remember my uncle saying back in about May 1979 that 'Why don't they just tow it back out into space?' Even at eleven-years-old I knew the answer why NASA couldn't. The night Skylab fell on us I will never forget. We had running updates on the radio and television and NASA said that Skylab was in 'Ex-tumbling Mode'...impact point Northern Atlantic, 11:18pm. My sister and I went to bed and were woken by sonic booms about 12:30am....Skylab had arrived in Western Australia....
shelkamark 1 year ago
@shelkamark
Were you one of the lucky ones that found a bit of the debris? I bet every kid in Western Australia was out looking for it next day. Fortunately the heavier elements such as the one ton film safe fell into the ocean or well clear of populated areas.
tpsossff 1 year ago
@tpsossff Nah, I found nothing out there. My dad said he did and I've seen the crap he collected from out there. Maybe, maybe not I don't know. He moved over seas and it all resides in my sister garage. I must pay her a visit and have a look. It would be twenty years since I've been inside there. All I know is we have Skylab debris at Fremantle harbor and I intend to verify that too.
shelkamark 1 year ago
@shelkamark
If there are any good bits maybe they will be nice exibits for local museums.
tpsossff 1 year ago
Skylab was a legacy of the Apollo program.
AcePilot101 1 year ago