I love the way you told the story through the media of the time without modern narration. It gave a very real feeling rather than the many steps away that a documentary would normally give you.

“In New York, a restaurant has created a cocktail called Skylab, a couple of these and you won’t know what hit you.” That gave me a good laugh.

@SandraTerenas

3 жыл бұрын

we had a nightclub in Lisbon called Skylab.

In Australia, before it Skylab crashed, when saying "Goodbye" to a friend, one would say "I hope a piece of Skylab falls on you". The best thing was when the town of Esperance issued a $400 littering fine to NASA. It was all in jest, NASA never paid it, but a radio station eventually did. The money went towards the museum in Esperance which has some of the Skylab on display.

@RobDucharme

Жыл бұрын

That's pretty cool..

@rohanevergreen

24 күн бұрын

A water tank (reinforced and insulated with asbestos and fiberglass) fell onto my then school's principal's farm. I remember her bringing in a couple of parts that had broken off due to the physical impact with the ground, scorched from re-entry. I credit that moment with my obsession with space travel and spaceflight.

I was 11 years old when Skylab came back to Earth and I recall a dude who lived in the Neighborhood actually had shirts printed up and was selling them. I remember one of the catchphrases was "Skylab...Good to the last drop", pretty enterprising dude, lol!

20:00 the pure excitement and class in her statement, so heartwarming!

I was an astronomy buff in the mid-70's while in High School. I remember seeing Skylab fly by in my small Tasco Telescope. It was moving very fast and I only got it tracked for a few seconds.

@missjddrage1111

Жыл бұрын

Ohh wow!! That's a memory for the books for sure!! How intense of a feeling to have seen it with your own eyes. 👁🔭🛰☄

@williehorton9389

Жыл бұрын

@@missjddrage1111 aaq

@NickanM

Жыл бұрын

Seconds or not, you did _see it!_ 😁👍

@zanpsimer7685

Жыл бұрын

I was the same nerd in high school at the time. I did NOT get to see it first hand.

@RCAvhstape

Жыл бұрын

A big satellite in low earth orbit like that is easier to see with wide field binoculars, especially at dusk and dawn, when the satellite is in sunlight but you are in the dark on the ground. The ISS is especially bright under these conditions and hard to miss. I think NASA has a website that tells you when and where to look for it based on your location.

Outstanding and fascinating bit of reporting here, ABC. You did a great job of building the tension with the radio report chronology.

I was an eleven year old nerd in 79 so this was pretty exciting. I remember how you could buy Skylab t-shirts, key fobs, lighters etc and even special "Official" Skylab paper bags for collecting Skylab debris. My friends and I were hoping it would drop some parts in central Illinois

@RCAvhstape

Жыл бұрын

Same, but different state.

@rustybarrel516

Жыл бұрын

Same - 11, nerd, Central Illinois. One of my favorite years.

@NozomuYume

3 ай бұрын

It's sad that people paid more attention to Skylab when it was destroyed rather than when it was used. It was the greatest space station ever built -- the only one where you could move around freely instead of crawling through cramped tunnels. Yes there are bigger space stations now, but they're all made up of small modules. None of them have the sheer internal scale of the main part of Skylab.

This is great! We need more of these retro focus episodes!

@Joaocruz30

Жыл бұрын

We don't need retro! We need advance and additional news about our diaspora throughout the Stars as a well oiled machine putting together all humankind to go ahead with science rather than the division with weapons, war and autodestruction. Is this the end? It's sad and we are getting dumber and will we die without firing a spaceship to the sky but instead firing a nuclear missile at each other???

I was a young woman working at Equifax as a Stenographer typist when this occurred. It was talked about everyday by the office staff, and making everyone nervous about it's final entry. We thought it ridiculous they allowed this to happen.

@akhileshsingh9843

2 жыл бұрын

Wow ! Mam youre making me feel so curious

@george25199

2 жыл бұрын

I was just a kid when this happened was scared that it would fall on our town or house

Brilliant piece of retrospective reporting. All those beautifully modulated voices that I grew up with. (I grew up in Tasmania but live France now) Many thanks. I have subscribed.

This is a really nice piece. Good work ABC!

Fantastic video... We need more of these!

Beautifully put together.

Yes i agree we need more of these retro focus episodes!

Thanks ABC ❤ for uploading this gem of a video

I was 12yrs old when this happened! Thanks for posting this!!

Very interesting. Thank you for posting!

Great video, appreciated. Weren’t people so polite, respectful and civilised back then?

@sethd6485

5 ай бұрын

uh… no. you do realize this is barely a decade after Stonewall, and around 20ish after the start of the civil rights movement. the world was never simple, nor free from violence and hate. the notion that people were all so polite, respectful, and civilized back then, based on a single radio broadcast, is ludicrous. humanity is, at its core, the same as it has always been. endlessly complex.

Very, very well done program. I enjoyed the space theme played in between the radio reporters stories.

Don't forget, it was Perth that lit up all their spotlights for John Glenn on "Friendship 7".

Really excellent video! Very professionally put together. I saw those oxygen tanks in the space museum in Huntsville Alabama not long afterward. They were just lying on the floor, not behind glass or anything. Next to it was an oil painting of the tanks crashing to earth in a field. If I remember correctly, there was a statement in the description that the tanks were owned by the three men who found them. So I hope they did well for themselves.

@anttikorpela3259

Жыл бұрын

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

@chrisgoetz3889

Жыл бұрын

You're kidding they left the cartoon props out in the open, it's like you're not even trying anymore and honestly they really don't have to try at all witnessing the last two years LMBO

@blackhawk7r221

Жыл бұрын

@@chrisgoetz3889 Your post confirmed our suspicions.

@RCAvhstape

Жыл бұрын

@@chrisgoetz3889 Teaching you to read was a waste of your teacher's time.

Great editing of this episode 👍👍👍

Anyone else as obsessed with that 15 second guitar riff at the very end with Skylab orbiting in the background? I saw this video months ago and I keep coming back to listen to that last bit on repeat. Shazam doesn't recognize it.

I laughed so hard watching this, I honestly couldn't tell if it was a satire a la Monty Python or for real.

@amarshmuseconcepta6197

Жыл бұрын

🎯 🤣

I remember when this happened. I was a kid growing up in Michigan. Lots of news coverage. Also, the impact on Australia was definitely a surprise.

@meajur

Жыл бұрын

I was a year old and obviously have no memory of it. I envy you a bit.

i was 10 years old and totally remember this. that was 43 years ago

@beckigreen

Жыл бұрын

I was 6 and remember it clearly as well.

Fascinating video, I was at school in the UK at the time. I am Intrigued at the comments on the video regarding the idea that NASA had full control of its re-entry, based on the fact that they can accurately put it up there in the first place. This ignores the fact that when it was launched in to orbit, the energy required to attain the correct velocity (Delta-V) was known, the atmospheric resistance to this velocity was also known, so that accurate orbital placement could be calculated. However, unlike the Space shuttle, there are no retro rocket boosters on Skylab powerful enough to initiate a planned de-orbit burn, Its demise was due entirely to atmospheric resistance slowing the orbital velocity. All NASA could do to set Skylab to tumble, in an attempt to control, to a very small extent, its final re-entry path.

@warefairsoda

3 жыл бұрын

"Hello, Scott Manly..."

@timl1481

3 жыл бұрын

@@warefairsoda Fly safe! Lol

@johndenicola6173

2 жыл бұрын

@@warefairsoda OK now that is HYSTERICAL!! ;)

@abundantYOUniverse

Жыл бұрын

When it flew by I yelled Do A Loop!

@danielescobar7618

Жыл бұрын

The tumble was to get it to heat up more from drag and burn away as much as possible. One of those "it's not a flaw, it's a feature" things

the cocktail named for it and the "have a couple and you wont know what hit you" lol that's a classic i love it.. hell a funny

Great production, I was in Perth while this was going on. If I remember right there are a few bits at the Balladonia roadhouse.

@driver3025

4 жыл бұрын

Robert Fletcher I have a piece on my bookshelf along with some stone from the original post office.

I was 12 when Skylab came down. I have always been a huge space enthusiast and remember crying when these reports came out it had finally returned to earth. It was like a death in the family.

It's interesting to see the Skylab story from an Australian perspective. I was in college in the USA at the time and saw very little coverage of the story, even though I had an active interest in the space program.

@F_Tim1961

Жыл бұрын

There would have been even more interest if there were a nuclear reactor aboard. By contrast, When Apollo 13 LEM came down in the pacific , in the Tonga trench, there was a thermo-nuclear generator on board for one of the left on lunar devices and this radioactive material went down in the drink.

@zanpsimer7685

Жыл бұрын

I was in my USA senior high school year coming up on the Skylab orbit degradation and it was all we astronomy nerds talked about before that summer break. Very disappointed there was so little coverage of it where I was.

I WAS WORKING for Motorola in Pheonix, in the dept. that did quality control testing of electronic parts that were going to be used to build SKYLAB !! I used a magnifying lens to scratch my name on the a of a bunch of small circuits parts as they were ready to be shipped !and I had long hair just like the guys in video !! Im '70 now !

@markporter9738

4 жыл бұрын

Cool story Tomas.

@NxDoyle

4 жыл бұрын

You forgot how to spell Phoenix.

@dwightsteven-boniecki9600

2 жыл бұрын

@@NxDoyle but as we have yu here to korrekt us, we shouldnt even have to bother.

@akhileshsingh9843

2 жыл бұрын

Wow sir

@TOMAS-lh4er

2 жыл бұрын

@@akhileshsingh9843 Thanks, GOD bless ,

This is like a real life version of "The Dish", I love it!!

Hey, thanx for that "never knew what hit you". I needed a good laugh.

This is one of the coolest mashups of an event I’ve ever seen.

I remember seeing Skylab fly over in the skies above Eastern Iowa in the late 70s. Moving very quickly. Exciting.

The documentary referred to at the end of the video is Searching for Skylab available on vimeo.

Who's here after reading a news that the chinese rocket debris will crash into the earth this weekend? (May 7 , 2021)

@afjgb4517

3 жыл бұрын

Me

@world222anna

3 жыл бұрын

me lol

@komedi1014

3 жыл бұрын

Me too

Super cool. We love James Webb stuff these days. This was their version. Just before I was born too. Love it!

1 in 150 are terrible odds

I was 5 years old in Australia remember going out for a couple nights with other people from our small rural area looking up at the night sky for it

I was a 4 year old kid in the United States when I heard that Skylab was coming down. I stayed by the window most of the day watching the sky, hoping to see it. Unfortunately for me I was on the exact wrong side of the Earth to see the reentry. But fortunately, I lived near Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. A couple years later I went to the museum there and they had a big piece of Skylab debris on display there. In those days you could even touch it. I also happened to see one of the Skylab astronauts in the airport here one day, about ten years ago.

That was a blast from the past. What was also facinating was the male influence in the ABC at that time and how professional and well spoken the men were. Sad, the ABC doesn't employ men anymore do they ?

@gigantor62

Жыл бұрын

They don't do real news anymore, only propaganda.

Really good thank you ABC

Absolutely loving all these retro 'blast from the past' vids. So funny to watch people's attitudes and opinions back in the day and comparing to the reality of current world! Cheer's for the quality upload!

@newforestpixie5297

2 жыл бұрын

This is what tickles me about life at least in England today - I am 58 and hear folk my age laugh at most aspects of daily life , the attitudes and styles of 30 ,40 or 50 years ago but still 70% of the music radio output for over 40s or the bands which folk my age regularly listen is from this period with the same 300 tunes on constant repeat from cheesey radio or re issues of albums by Pink Floyd or The Stranglers or Elton John or tours by Duran Duran or AC/DC etc . After all no one goes home and sits in front of 1982 tv programmes whist wearing a Shell Suit ! It baffles me given the amount of music available from streaming services by thousands of brilliant musicians producing work since say 2000 , when it comes to Music at least nothing much has changed for those my age 🙄👍

@steverhodesvideos6244

Жыл бұрын

@@newforestpixie5297 Another brain fried by too much caffeine... sad

I remember I was at summer camp in the mountains with clear sky’s. One of the counselors pointed Skylab out to us as it passed.

Possibly saw Skylab in its near-earth orbit in about May 1979 when I was in the Rhodesian Army. We were on operations out in the bush of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) when I was lying in my sleeping bag watching something large moving across the night sky. I watched it from horizon to horizon.

@Nicole__Natalia

Жыл бұрын

That’s awesome!

@peterparker9286

Жыл бұрын

A moon or what ?

Aww.. I love the 2nd woman witness caller's excitement in her voice when the Gentleman asked her if they stay up to witness the fiery pieces of the Skylab descend to earth. 👁🔭🛰☄ I'd be excited and probably scared at the same time to witness such a historic moment a little too close to my home. 😱😬😀🤗

This space station passed over my city, León, México in the late afternoon when it was reentering the Earth and I witnessed while it was passing in a high arch leaving on its path many pieces of debris and a tail of smoke that streched all across the sky on account of its altitude. It was a very rare sight. i wish I had had my cell phone at that time in order to video it, but at that time a cell phone was in the realm of science fiction, 1979.

@Halbi1987

8 ай бұрын

But You had a giant space station crashing :D so this is more science fiction than you could have asked for :D

The modern reporter at the end vs the reporters in the 70s is quite a notable difference. I’d take the latter 100% of the time narrating anything

@jojox5136

Жыл бұрын

Yes the modern day reporters voice is very jarring

I was in my final year of primary school, year 6 in 1979 when Skylab came down. It was such a big exciting event. The night it came in to the lower atmosphere I was in bed in my Sydney Australia home … it was in the early am hours and I had my shortwave radio on listening intently to reports from ham radio operators all across Australia, I was especially paying attention to those in Western Australia. There were many reports of visible debris streaking across the sky with a few reports claiming to have witnessed what looked like solid debris impacting West Australia. I didn’t sleep a wink that night …. It was so exciting.

@Mrbfgray

Жыл бұрын

That's cool. Some joked that it was payback for when Ausies helped at crucial time (Apollo 13 maybe?) when we couldn't otherwise communicate with our astronauts. I was at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Cali when the 1st Shuttle returned, watching it on TV and ran outside to catch the sonic boom, hearing it really makes it seem near. Same for meteors which I've had pleasure of hearing a couple times.

@IHaveASillyHaircut

Жыл бұрын

FiIthy "Ostrayan"!

Wow 😲😲 thank you

I grew up in Kalgoorlie. My father has a piece of Skylab

Pretty spectacular sight, with all the different colours and individual parts burning at re entry.

Thanks I remember this👍

Remarkable, sad though the amount of space junk that's up there and thank God it did not veer off course.

This fascinated me as a child. I was in 4th grade at the time looking at turning 10 years old. I'm now 51 🙄😬

@juv3ydvs3vb3vst7

3 жыл бұрын

Damn haha

@chocloditelensman

2 жыл бұрын

I was 15 and was freaking out too that summer. Everybody was concerned in the United States.

Judging by the local's reactions, not much went on around Esperance back then.

The Agena, was the 3rd stage of an Atlas, Skylab was 3rd stage of a Saturn 1. They were never intended to last for long.

20:00 "Yes We Did" LOL, she's adorable.

Steve Cossee looks like Elfo from Disenchantment 😂😂😂

Very good thank you ;) I remember seeing footage on BBC UK news in 1979 of people selling 'Sky Lab protection helmets' on the streets of New York USA before its reentry, LOL...

I watched it come down, was amazing 😍

i think steve cosser has thee greatest asmr voice of all time. where can i find a 5hr tape of him talking to fall asleep to?

Old mate admitted to going to the Kalgoorlie brothel. MVP

What's the odds of me searching this without knowledge and watching on July 11 22... Strange

I picked up peices of Skylab on the outskirts of Rawlinna on the Nullarbor plain. I also heard the sonic boom as part of it flew nearby

My dad was concerned about the impact this would have on us and built a shelter “The Ark” he called it. We went down there for many years. AMA

I remember I was scared it was going to strike me but I still took my kabuki 10-speed road bike for a hot bike ride that summer !!

Spotted a huge fireball traveling southeast to northwest in the early 70s over NE England it literally came out of nowhere and was really fast

my dad was stationed with the argentinian navy awaiting skylab at the south athlantic, but then it went far further.

If you go to Belladonna Roadhouse on the Nullarbor plain and look up on the roof you will see a big piece of Skylab, they are using it as a TV antenna. And they have a great Skylab museum.

I was 6 years old 43 years ago and I remember looking up at the night sky with my mother and saying that's skylab.. I was 2 moths when it up 1973 almost 50 years ago....

I saw Skylab fly over my house including H comet space shuttle hail bop I've been very fortunate

I saw the Space Shuttle burn up. I’ll never forget it

Hmm, I had just had my 11th birthday when all this happened but didn't learn of it until well after the fact. I was stuck in Hospital unable to walk and waiting for surgery's so I could walk again. Stuck in a bed with no TV in a children's hospital back in the 70's was very depressing.

Very sliver metal thank you 😊💕

I was 5 years old and remember the news on television.

@susannaCdonovan23

3 жыл бұрын

I was 21.

@beckigreen

Жыл бұрын

I was six and it was all over the news.

The tenacity of NASA. Incredable.

Will QF brought me here. thank you!

31:35 - Poor bloke doesn't understand the difference between a controlled rocket flight and a completely uncontrolled satellite

@rapman5363

Жыл бұрын

The sad thing is that if you ask him he probably thinks he’s the brightest bulb on the tree. The poor fool hasn’t a clue how Earths gravitational pull and orbiting works.

"Where are you going, Chicken Little?" Chicken Little: "To tell the king Skylab is falling!"

" Those were the days my friend we thought it was about to end " Living in Perth at the time you could say there was some concern. Well it missed by miles but on the astronomical scale very close.

@Peter-ob6ue

Жыл бұрын

I picked up many peices of Skylab at Rawlinna

@chuckmaddison2924

Жыл бұрын

@@Peter-ob6ue I hope you still have them .

What was it about "Rubber - Chicken Circuit" politicians of the '70's and Early '80's, and that 'Wave - Train' hairstyle?!

Ernie's Taco House in North Hollywood, California introduced their enormous Skylab burrito around this time, and believe it or not, 43 years on, it's still on their menu!

I remember it had lovely music and as a kid i thought i would have some space material in my backyard the next day but alas nothing. I dont know if i thought i could create a new rocket out of it or some damn thing.

Steve Cosser had the perfect voice for this.

Such a different world

@akhileshsingh9843

2 жыл бұрын

True

“Drink a couple and you won’t know what hit you.” Lol, that is gold

The speaker says that air made Skylab slow down. Actually it is more complicated. Atmospheric resistance makes the satellite do two things simultaneously: descend its orbit and... speed up. It may seem a paradox but remember that falling things generally speed up.

@johndenicola6173

2 жыл бұрын

The effect was that solar flares from the sun had heated up the atmosphere that year which caused it to expand. Considering that an orbit is gravitational phenomenon where an object in space is technically in a "free fall" toward earth, but its forward velocity is fast enough that it keeps missing the earth/atmosphere so it remains.. well, in orbit. With that in mind, the "drag" caused its forward velocity (fv) to decrease, thus shortening (and effectively shallowing) the orbital path of Skylab, inevitably to a point where it's downward velocity inevitably became faster than its fv... in short, it's forward velocity slowed down while its downward velocity sped up.

@arctic_haze

2 жыл бұрын

@@johndenicola6173 Orbital mechanics does nit work thus way. Friction makes you lose altitude and potential energy but some of it is converted into kinetic energy making you increase velocity. Yes, also the horizontal component.

@johndenicola6173

2 жыл бұрын

@@arctic_haze Thanks for the clarification! ;)

@akhileshsingh9843

2 жыл бұрын

It sped up, but logically it sped tangentially, not vertically

@arctic_haze

2 жыл бұрын

@@akhileshsingh9843 It speeds up almost horizontally.

I remember 60 minutes in Australia TV shows

Am Australian and old enough to remember the 1979 sky lab event seem seems I got it for a birthday present as my birthday is 11 July bizarre indeed :)

I can't believe they made that mistake! It just wasn't high enough??? 😂

Great vid. Tho the Balladonia Roadhouse might feel a bit sidelined considering they've also got pieces (including the body) and another museum with a lot of newspaper clippings from the era. They even took a call from President Jimy Carter, apologising! LOL

It's so strange how the Australian accent has become more pronounced over just 50 years lol! They all sound British in the recordings from 79....

The thing had been abandoned for a few yrs. When it crashed

Star light, star bright, turned out to be a satellite.

The space shuttle was supposed to save Skylab. But the white elephant didn't get up there in time.

@melreslor2114

Жыл бұрын

The space shuttle was first estimated to have a 1 in 100,000 chance of failure. In reality it was closer to 2%.

Retrofocus is cool.