The sign accompanying a Skylab oxygen tank which survived reentry. It reads
This is the largest recovered piece of the Skylab Space Station that plunged to
the Earth in 1979. Skylab,
managed by Marshall Space Flight Center, proved that man could live, work, and
play in space. This fragment is one of six identical air tanks that
were aboard the orbiting laboratory to supply oxygen to the crew. This oxygen
tank was recovered in Australia by two men who witnessed its re-entry on July
11. They found the tank and other small debris about 15 miles southwest of the
small mining town of Rawlinna.
Before it crashed, the tank was eight feet long, four feet in diameter, and
weighed 2800 pounds empty.
A museum in Esperance (on Australia's southern coast and apparently also on
Skylab's orbital path) contains
various Skylab debris, including another oxygen tank (which seems to be
in somewhat better shape than this one). And an oxygen tank also made an
appearance at the 1979
Miss Universe pageant, which coincidentally was being held in Australia
four days after Skylab's reentry.
|