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Skylab's impending demise in 1979 was an international media event, [150] with T-shirts and hats with bullseyes [9] and "Skylab Repellent" with a money-back guarantee, [151] wagering on the time and place of re-entry, and nightly news reports.
NASA expected that the Shuttle would be ready by 1979, and Skylab would not re-enter until the early 1980s. Another factor was that, in 1975, it was decided not to launch a second Skylab ; this gave a boost to Skylab re-use plans. As it was, the Shuttle was not ready until the early 1980s, and Skylab's orbit decayed in 1979. [5]
On August 15, 1978, Smith accepted a one-year assignment as deputy associate administrator for Space Transportation Systems at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. He served as director of the Skylab Task Force appointed by the NASA administrator to represent NASA preceding and following the reentry of Skylab.
Efforts by non-NASA professionals led to clear results. First, if Skylab had come down on or near a major city, the two-hour warning would have risked an urban panic. That panic would have been more dangerous than the satellite reentry. Second, Skylab was projected to break up to some 5,000 lethal pieces. A danger to man, animal, and airplane.
On July 11, 1979, the US Skylab space station (77,100 kilograms [170,000 lb]) reentered and spread debris across the Australian Outback. [76] The reentry was a major media event largely due to the Cosmos 954 incident, but not viewed as much as a potential disaster since it did not carry toxic nuclear or hydrazine fuel.
Skylab [3] USA: 69,000 kg (152,000 lb) 11 July 1979: 6 years: Partially Controlled: 14 May 1973 Salyut 7/Cosmos 1686: USSR: 40,000 kg (88,000 lb) 7 February 1991: 8 years: Uncontrolled: 13 May 1982 S-II Stage / Skylab: USA 36,200 kg (79,700 lb) 11 January 1975 18 Months Uncontrolled 14 May 1973 STS external tank (Standard Tank) USA
In 1978, she joined NASA as a flight controller / payload officer, and was a guidance and navigation controller for Skylab during its de-orbiting and re-entry in July 1979. She was selected as one of the nineteen astronaut candidates in NASA Astronaut Group 9 in 1980.
In the early planning stages of the Space Shuttle program, STS-2 was intended to be a reboost mission for the aging Skylab space station. [note 2] However, such a mission was impeded by delays with the Shuttle's development and the deteriorating orbit of Skylab. Skylab ultimately de-orbited on July 11, 1979, two years before the launch of STS-2 ...