Saturday, May 8, 2021

Skylab and scary space junk

A tweet today from Kay Savetz, co-host of the fabulous Eaten by a Grue podcast, stirred some minor memories for me.


"China rocket" is a reference to the buzz around the used section of a Chinese rocket that is hurtling back to Earth and is likely to re-enter this atmosphere this weekend. The Associated Press reported:

"China says the upper stage of its Long March 5B rocket that launched the core module of its space station will mostly burn up on re-entry, posing little threat to people and property on the ground. ... The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as Saturday at an unknown location."

Skylab plunged back to Earth in 1979. I remember it, of course. And I got a "souvenir." My grandmother gave me a small block of wood, perhaps 4 inches by 3 inches, upon which was mounted a small grey blob of melted metal. The plaque indicated that it was piece of Skylab. Yeah, right. I wish I still had it, though. It would be a fun and nostalgic trinket from some excessive panic we had in America four decades ago.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for this, Chris. It brought back memories of Bill Lee and the Montreal Expos (RIP). Seems appropriate that his nickname was "Spaceman."

    After reading your post, I gave Warren Zevon's "Bill Lee" a listen. It was every bit as moving as I remembered.

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