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N0KFQ > TODAY 11.07.12 20:38l 37 Lines 1544 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 25040_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 11
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<VE2PKT<ZL2BAU<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120711/1821Z 25040@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.51
Jul 11, 1979:
Skylab crashes to Earth
Parts of Skylab, America's first space station, come crashing
down on Australia and into the Indian Ocean five years after the
last manned Skylab mission ended. No one was injured.
Launched in 1973, Skylab was the world's first successful space
station. The first manned Skylab mission came two years after the
Soviet Union launched Salynut 1, the world's first space station,
into orbit around the earth. However, unlike the ill-fated
Salynut, which was plagued with problems, the American space
station was a great success, safely housing three separate
three-man crews for extended periods of time.
Originally the spent third stage of a Saturn 5 moon rocket, the
cylindrical space station was 118 feet tall, weighed 77 tons, and
carried the most varied assortment of experimental equipment ever
assembled in a single spacecraft to that date. The crews of
Skylab spent more than 700 hours observing the sun and brought
home more than 175,000 solar pictures. They also provided
important information about the biological effects of living in
space for prolonged periods of time.
Five years after the last Skylab mission, the space station's
orbit began to deteriorate--earlier than was anticipated--because
of unexpectedly high sunspot activity. On July 11, 1979, Skylab
made a spectacular return to earth, breaking up in the atmosphere
and showering burning debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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