In 1979 The US space laboratory, Skylab I, plunged to Earth scattering debris across the southern Indian Ocean and sparsely populated Western Australia. It had been in orbit for six years – for the past five of those it had been unoccupied. Skylab was launched on 14th May 1973 and was lived in by three teams of astronauts for periods of up to 84 days as they tested human endurance over long periods of weightlessness. The 77.5 ton Skylab was believed to break into as many as 500 pieces. The 5,100lb (2,310kg) airlock shroud and 3,900lb (1,767kg) lead safe, which protects film from radiation, were expected to survive the heat of re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.
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