1. Standard memberpawnpawonline
    Please Pay Attention
    Lethabong
    Joined
    02 Apr '10
    Moves
    96368
    15 Jul '19 14:40
    @wolfgang59 said
    40 years ago
    The space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
    Did you know, Skylab landed in the Australian Outback, and the Aus government fined NASA for littering, for A$400 !
  2. SubscriberVery Rusty
    Treat Everyone Equal
    Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Joined
    04 Oct '06
    Moves
    596034
    15 Jul '19 14:47
    @pawnpaw said
    Did you know, Skylab landed in the Australian Outback, and the Aus government fined NASA for littering, for A$400 !
    NASA's Unpaid $400 Littering Ticket For Skylab Debris in Australia
    BY NICK GREENE NOVEMBER 3, 2015
    NASA
    NASA
    In 1973, NASA made its first attempt at an orbital space station with Skylab. The project, which had to eventually be abandoned before falling back to Earth, cost an estimated $2.2 billion, though one expense was left unpaid for over three decades: a $400 littering ticket issued by a park service official in Western Australia.

    The events that would lead to this fine were set into motion with Skylab’s rockier-than-expected launch in 1973, when the (at the time unmanned) research lab suffered severe damage to its meteorite shield and solar panels.

    The first crew to visit Skylab spent their 28-day mission conducting repairs, and the station eventually managed to host two more teams of astronauts over the following year. Once the final team returned to Earth in 1974, Skylab was left unoccupied as high solar activity reduced the station’s orbital altitude. Unable to give it a boost in time, NASA planned to let Skylab reenter the atmosphere and fall back to Earth in 1979.

    The plan worked. Debris that hadn’t completely disintegrated during reentry scattered into the Indian Ocean and across a sparsely populated section of rural Australia. No one was hurt, but NASA wasn’t completely off the hook. When members of the Skylab investigation team visited the Shire of Esperance in Western Australia to inspect the damage and collect the station remnants, they were greeted with a $400 ticket for littering.

    Marshall Space Flight Center public affairs representative J.M. Jones relayed the story of their trip to Australia and Skylab’s minor municipal offense in a 1979 NASA newsletter:

    “Upon our arrival, the president of the shire had arranged a mock ceremony in which an officer of the parks service ticketed NASA for littering, the evidence having been found all about the country-side.”

    The ticket was issued as a gag and in good fun, and NASA never paid off the $400 fine. In 2009, 30 years after Skylab’s reentry, California radio DJ Scott Barley asked listeners to donate money so they could finally clear NASA’s books. Though the mayor of Esperance told Barley the ticket had been “written off years ago,” he and his listeners cobbled together the $400 and sent it to the shire. For his efforts, Barley was invited to Esperance and received a key to the city.

    NASA, to its credit, hasn't littered in the Shire of Esperance since the Skylab incident.

    copy & pasted!
    -VR
  3. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    21 Jul '19 06:591 edit
    On this day in:

    1960
    English yachtsman Francis Chichester docked in New York in his boat Gypsy Moth II - setting a new record of 40 days for a solo crossing of the Atlantic.

    1995
    Tony Blair became Prime Minister of the UK flowing the death of John Smith. Labour didn’t feel the need to call a general election.

    1545
    France made their last in a long series of attempts to invade and occupy the Isle of Wight just off of the south coast of England. As in previous attempts they had their asses handed to them.
  4. Joined
    18 Jan '07
    Moves
    12363
    22 Jul '19 13:00
    @divegeester said
    On this day in:

    1995
    Tony Blair became Prime Minister of the UK flowing the death of John Smith. Labour didn’t feel the need to call a general election.
    I hate to break it to a Brexiteer, but Labour aren't to blame in this case, and Tory BLiar wouldn't become PM until the nect GE was called by the actual PM of the time, your glorious leader John Major.
  5. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    22 Jul '19 13:12
    @shallow-blue said
    I hate to break it to a Brexiteer, but Labour aren't to blame in this case, and Tory BLiar wouldn't become PM until the nect GE was called by the actual PM of the time, your glorious leader John Major.
    Acknowledged. You are correct, I stand corrected.

    In fact I remember Blair winning that famous election so not sure how I conflated the two things in my head.
  6. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    28 Jul '19 09:27
    On this day in 1914

    Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, exactly one month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie had been shot dead by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Europe went from peaceful prosperity to the start of a world war that would bring down four empires and cost millions of lives, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
  7. Standard memberwolfgang59
    Quiz Master
    RHP Arms
    Joined
    09 Jun '07
    Moves
    48793
    28 Jul '19 09:40
    28th July 1943
    World War II
    Operation Gomorrah
    The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a
    firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians. About the same
    number of civilian deaths as Britain suffered during the Blitz.
  8. Standard memberwolfgang59
    Quiz Master
    RHP Arms
    Joined
    09 Jun '07
    Moves
    48793
    01 Aug '19 06:57
    1st August 1774
    British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas
    (even though Carl Scheele had already discovered it)

    God knows what they were breathing up until then!
  9. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    02 Aug '19 08:12
    On this day in 1776

    The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
  10. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    09 Aug '19 10:11
    1796

    Horatio Nelson captured the island of Elba from the French, to which Napoleon Bonaparte was later exiled.
  11. Standard memberwolfgang59
    Quiz Master
    RHP Arms
    Joined
    09 Jun '07
    Moves
    48793
    10 Aug '19 02:12
    @divegeester said
    1796

    Horatio Nelson captured the island of Elba from the French, to which Napoleon Bonaparte was later exiled.
    ... more of an extended holiday than an exile.
    And like all holidays he put on a lot of weight.
  12. Standard memberwolfgang59
    Quiz Master
    RHP Arms
    Joined
    09 Jun '07
    Moves
    48793
    10 Aug '19 02:14
    10th August
    500 years ago today.
    Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe.
    He didn't make it but his crew did.
  13. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    15 Aug '19 15:20
    On this day 15th August in 1962

    Pete Best was sacked from The Beatles by Epstein and the other three band members.
    He played his last gig at The Cavern, Liverpool, two years and three days after he first performed with them.
  14. Standard memberHandyAndy
    Read a book!
    Joined
    23 Sep '06
    Moves
    18677
    23 Aug '19 16:33
    On this date in 1775, Britain's King George III
    proclaimed the American colonies to be
    in a state of "open and avowed rebellion."
  15. Joined
    16 Feb '08
    Moves
    116449
    15 Sep '19 07:14
    On this day in 1940

    The tide turned in the Battle of Britain as the German air force sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force. The defeat was serious enough to convince Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to abandon his plans for an invasion of Britain. The day was chosen as "Battle of Britain Day".

    We were on our last legs. Never give up.
Back to Top

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.I Agree