Skylab, Mir & Other Space Junk

[Lancecastor]

Remember back in the 1970's when stuff fell out of orbit without even trying?

"Skylab, a science and engineering laboratory, was launched into Earth orbit by a Saturn V rocket on 14 May 1973. Three crews of 3 men each visited the station, with their missions lasting 28, 59, and 84 days. Circling 50 degrees north and south of the equator at an altitude of 435 km, Skylab had an orbital period of 93 minutes. There were a plethora of UV astronomy experiments done during the Skylab lifetime, as well as detailed X-ray studies of the Sun. Skylab fell from orbit on 11 July 1979.

The world's most serious space junk crises happened in January 1978.

During the '70s the Soviets sent fleets of uranium-powered spy satellites, designed to track Western navies, into orbit. After they completed their mission their nuclear power packs were rocketed into high Earth orbits were they will remain, out of sight and mind, for hundreds of years. However something went wrong with Cosmos 954, which fell back over Canada, spewing uranium over the snow and triggering a major clean-up emergency.

The Russians' 40-tonne Salyut 7, abandoned after Mir's 1986 launch, went out of control and crashed in Argentina in February 1991. One bit of wreckage, the size of a washing machine, landed on the patio of one startled woman. But again, there were no injuries.

NASA says Earth is routinely hit by Mir-sized natural space rubble.

17,500 bits of man-made junk have tumbled back to Earth since the dawn of the space age - without anyone being hurt. Old satellites or burnt-out rockets continue to fall back at a rate of about two a week.

Twice during the 1960s US satellites powered by nuclear fuel crashed into the Atlantic after their launch rockets failed. The plutonium aboard one craft, a weather satellite, was recovered and reused.

When Tom Hanks parachuted the movie-version of Apollo 13 back to Earth, there was no mention of the fact that the real moonship, shattered in 1970 by an explosion, also carried a canister of plutonium that was to have powered experiments the astronauts intended to set up on the lunar surface.

The lunar lander, with the plutonium, was destroyed as it crashed into the atmosphere and no trace of its radioactive material was ever found. Encased in a container designed to stay intact during such an emergency, it is presumably at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean."
http://old.smh.com.au/news/0103/22/features/features2.html

 

[REDWAVE]

Space dude

You really get off on this stuff, don't you, Lance? You're such a spacey guy!


What I wanna know is this. When I was a youngster, I was promised that by the year 2000, we would all have flying cars, robot butlers, etc. War, poverty, disease, racism wouls all be eradicated. I also remember being told that if we didn't have that evil Soviet Union to contend with, we would all lead lives of great affluence, being freed from the unfortunate necessity of all that defense spending. I look around at the world today, and see a very different reality from the one I was promised.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

You were also told that socialism can work. Like your AV you swallow everything.

 

[REDWAVE]

Cyberstalker troll

I see you're following me around. Admit me, you're fascinated by me! Try to guess which thread I'll post to next.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

You're like a bad smell in the car, I gotta find where it's coming from and take care of it.

Here you go:

 

[Guest]

Interesting thread.

Dixon is such a loser.

 

[Problem Child]

Re: Space dude

You really get off on this stuff, don't you, Lance? You're such a spacey guy!


What I wanna know is this. When I was a youngster, I was promised that by the year 2000, we would all have flying cars, robot butlers, etc. War, poverty, disease, racism wouls all be eradicated. I also remember being told that if we didn't have that evil Soviet Union to contend with, we would all lead lives of great affluence, being freed from the unfortunate necessity of all that defense spending. I look around at the world today, and see a very different reality from the one I was promised.

1) Your mother lied to you.

2) Said lies obviously contributed to your current psychosis and accompanying warped sense of reality.

 

[Lancecastor]

Re: Space dude

You really get off on this stuff, don't you, Lance? You're such a spacey guy!


What I wanna know is this. When I was a youngster, I was promised that by the year 2000, we would all have flying cars, robot butlers, etc. War, poverty, disease, racism wouls all be eradicated. I also remember being told that if we didn't have that evil Soviet Union to contend with, we would all lead lives of great affluence, being freed from the unfortunate necessity of all that defense spending. I look around at the world today, and see a very different reality from the one I was promised.

I was born in the 50's, man, so the Space Race and The British Invasion are hardwired for me.

In the late 60's,here was a British television series called Here Come The 70's that had features on flying cars with atomic engines, video phones, robots, etc....