The Sky (Lab) is Falling

A Fiery Summer: Skylab Hysteria in 1979

In the summer of 1979, a kind of hysteria gripped my neighborhood. For an unassuming 8-year-old like me, it felt like the end of the world. The dramatic, apocalyptic thoughts conjured up were reminiscent of the 2012 doomsday predictions. As a member of a small, motley crew of youngsters, I was particularly impressionable.

For days, our group buzzed with excitement and fear about something called 'Skylab' - a massive monster up in space that was supposedly about to come crashing down to Earth in a fiery ball. The catch? Skylab could potentially fall in India, with my hometown of Belgaum being a prime target.

The hysteria was likely fueled by the fact that, until the final hours, nobody (including the Americans) had a clue where Skylab would eventually fall. Its orbital path included some of the world's most populous areas: the U.S., much of Europe, India, and China.

The 77-ton behemoth did come crashing down, but due to a miscalculation, it landed in Western Australia instead of South Africa. The size of this space station - about nine stories tall - had fueled all kinds of wild stories. This was a period with no 24-hour live television or internet streaming. Word of mouth, or rumor in this case, was a powerful tool. Our group made me believe it was time to pray and say our goodbyes.

It's now estimated that the chances of getting hit by debris weighing up to 90 kg from a falling space satellite are 250,000 times more unlikely than winning the lottery. Yet, back then, it seemed like a real and imminent threat.

As I read about a similar event in the newspaper today - a 6-tonne NASA satellite falling to Earth with an unknown destination - I can't help but chuckle at how it’s now considered a non-event. Perhaps the world is much noisier and more turbulent now, and amidst this deluge of information, an event like this doesn't evoke the same kind of awe and wild imagination as it did in the summer of 1979.