Skylab

Today when UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) was to fall over North America/California, I was reminded of Skylab which re-entered the Earth in 1979. No, I wasn't born yet but I had heard stories about it as a kid. I don't remember how much of those I comprehended. I used to think of it as an astronomical phenomena and had an image of "giant ball of fire falling from the sky" in my head. Little did I know, it was a man made space station which re-entered after completing its lifetime. I even have faint memories of asking my school friends if they had heard of it to find out more but I guess we were just too young to understand about the profound universe and numerous efforts we make to explore our own world and beyond! 

Image of Skylab fragment in U.S. Space & Rocker Center in Alabama.