Skylab 25th Anniversary Special

September 2004  : 

Twenty-five years ago the world was anxiously awaiting the fiery rentry of America's first space station, Skylab. Somewhere in my slide archives I actually have an image of it (lke any image of a staellite) passing over nearby Massachusetts a couple of days before its demise.

Predictions called for Skylab to come down somewhere over the Indian Ocean and/or Australia. Well, most of it did end up in the Indian Ocean, but fragments did rain down over Australia as well. Pieces were recovered by ranchers watching for such an opportunity, and soon thereafter you could purchase Skylab fragments.

There's one story about a rancher who was out on his land waiting to see Skylab reenter, when all of a sudden he saw a bright object heading straight for him. He reported that he felt it was so close that he hit the ground! Indeed, the piece did land on his property, but many miles away.

Before all this happened, I thought it would funny to issue a Skyscraper Chicken Little Insurance policy. The policy was issued on July 6, 1979. It is reproduced here for your amusement.