RANDOM FACT #29 - NASA was Once FINED $400 for Littering over Western Australia

(**snapshot preview** View the actual interactive SCG RANDOM FACT below)

Skylab was the United States' first space station, orbiting Earth from 1973 to 1979, when it fell back to Earth amid huge worldwide media attention. Launched and operated by NASA, Skylab included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems necessary for crew survival and scientific experiments. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a weight of 170,000 pounds (77,111 kg). Lifting Skylab into low earth orbit was the final mission and launch of a Saturn V rocket (which was famous for the first--and subsequent--manned moon landings).

Cut-away view of Skylab as planned, docked with Apollo CSM | Wikipedia

To transport astronauts to Skylab, there were a total of three manned expeditions to the station, conducted between May 1973 and February 1974. Each of these missions delivered a three-astronaut crew, carried in the Apollo Command/Service Module (Apollo CSM) launched atop the Saturn IB rocket, which is much smaller than the Saturn V. For the final two manned missions to Skylab, a backup Apollo CSM/Saturn IB was assembled and made ready in case an in-orbit rescue mission was needed, but this backup vehicle was never flown.

A plaque located under the model of Skylab explains to visitors what the space station was and when it came crashing back to Earth in this remote part of Australia.
Credit: Ben Cooper/LaunchPhotography.com | Source 

The station was damaged during launch when the micrometeoroid shield separated from the workshop and tore away, taking one of the main solar panel arrays with it and jamming the other main solar panel array so that it could not deploy. This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power, and also removed protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. However, the first crew was able to save Skylab by deploying a replacement heat shade and freeing the jammed solar panels, which was the first time a major repair was performed in space.

Debris from Skylab (Image by Powerhouse Museum) | Source

Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its operational life, and crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the Sun. The Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) was used to view Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible, infrared, and microwave spectral regions. Thousands of photographs of Earth were taken, and the record for human time spent in orbit was extended beyond the 23 days set by the Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1, to as much as 84 days by the Skylab 4 crew. Plans were made to refurbish and reuse Skylab by using the Space Shuttle to boost its orbit and repair it. However, due to delays with the development of the Space Shuttle, Skylab's decaying orbit could not be stopped.

A portion of wreckage identified as belonging to the hatch which Skylab astronauts used to access the space station
after docking. |  Credit: Ben Cooper/LaunchPhotography.com | Source

In the hours before re-entry, NASA ground controllers attempted to adjust Skylab's trajectory and orientation to try to minimize the risk of debris landing in populated areas. NASA's attempted target was a spot 810 miles (1,300 km) south-southeast of Cape Town, South Africa. Skylab's atmospheric reentry began on July 11, 1979, and people on earth and an airline pilot saw dozens of colorful firework-like flares as large pieces of the space station broke up in the atmosphere. Skylab did not burn up as fast as NASA expected, and Skylab debris landed southeast of Perth in Western Australia, resulting in a debris path between Esperance and Rawlinna. Over a single property in Esperance, 24 pieces of Skylab were found. Analysis of some debris indicated that the Skylab station had disintegrated 10 miles above the Earth, much lower than expected.

The local government fined NASA with a comical $400 bill for the cleanup, though the U.S. space agency never officially paid it. However, on the 30th anniversary of the crash in 2009, a radio host for Highway Radio in California and Nevada used his program to raise the funds and put a formal end to the complaint once and for all. Now proof of the fine PAID IN FULL is shown inside, hanging above the remains...

The oversized check by the Nevada & California-based radio station The Highway, used to finally pay a $400 litter fine after 30 years, is on display above the case. | Source

and on a billboard outside...

The rear, waterfront-facing side of the museum advertises the main attraction and the $400 paid fine on a billboard.
Credit: Ben Cooper/LaunchPhotography.com | Source

A plaque commemorating the arrival of Skylab to Esperance and the museum.
 Credit: Ben Cooper/LaunchPhotography.com | Source

The Esperance Municipal Museum is located on James Street, between the waterfront Esplanade and Dempster Street. There is a $4 admission fee. Allow 30 minutes if your goal is to see Skylab only.

Another of the large oxygen tanks that survived Skylab's fall to Earth is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Source | Source