1979: The Skylab space station re-enters Earth’s atmosphere after six years in orbit. It is perhaps the most highly anticipated return of any spacecraft ever, save Apollo 13.

The first U.S. space station, launched in May 1973 as a science and engineering laboratory, was not a success. Originally intended to remain in orbit as a shelter for crews from the new space shuttle program, Skylab was badly damaged during liftoff and plagued thereafter by a power deficit that played a significant role in its premature demise.

NASA’s plan was for Skylab to remain in relatively low orbit until a space shuttle equipped with a re-boost module could reach it in 1979 and boost it into a higher orbit. Subsequent shuttle missions would focus on overhauling Skylab, making repairs and replacing various components.

It was intended that Skylab remain in orbit throughout the 1980s. It fell well short of that, but there were some achievements, especially in the areas of solar research and the adaptation of astronauts to longer periods in space.

Three crews traveled to Skylab aboard Apollo spacecraft — spending a total of 171 days aboard and returning by splashdown — and some repairs were made. The space station was placed in a parking orbit after the third Apollo crew departed, to await the eventual arrival of the first space shuttle. But delays in getting the shuttle program off the ground, coupled with Skylab’s deteriorating orbit, compelled NASA to consign its space station to a fiery death.

With Skylab out of control, NASA ground controllers were unable to conduct the routine re-entry procedures.

As they prepared to bring Skylab down, the world watched in an atmosphere that can only be described as circuslike. Skylab news coverage was amped up and sensationalized, merchandise was hawked everywhere, and bookmakers took bets on when and where the 77.5-ton space station would hit the Earth’s atmosphere.

The San Francisco Examiner, in one of its loopier promotional campaigns, even offered $10,000 (about $30,000 in today’s money) to the first person who could deliver a chunk of Skylab debris to the paper’s newsroom. [Disclosure: I was on the Examiner's editorial staff at the time.]

That person turned out to be Stan Thornton, a 17-year-old from Esperance, Australia.

Ground control had struggled to coax Skylab into a position that would cause the spacecraft to break up over the Indian Ocean. Most of it did, but parts of it came down over Western Australia. It also hit the atmosphere at a shallower angle than intended, resulting in bigger pieces, a number of which managed to fall to Earth intact.

A small piece landed on Thornton’s roof in Esperance, and the kid was off to San Francisco to claim his 10 grand.

Source: NASA, Space.com

Photo: The Skylab space station had a few good years in space ? fewer than NASA wanted and not as good as NASA wanted ? before falling to Earth in a rain of debris. (Courtesy NASA)

This article first appeared on Wired.com July 11, 2008.