On This Day in Science History - July 11

On July 11, 1979, NASA commanded its Skylab space station to tumble and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. NASA believed the tumble would cause the station to break up as it hit the atmosphere and burn up on re-entry. Instead, several pieces fell over parts of the southern Indian Ocean and western Australia.

One Western Australian citizen got more than a spectacular view of the re-entry. 17 year old Stan Thornton found a small piece of Skylab that fell on his backyard shed. After it cooled, he took it to the local authorities who informed him of a contest the San Francisco Examiner newspaper was running. The paper promised $10,000 to the first person to deliver a piece of Skylab to their offices within 48 hours of re-entry. Thornton hopped a plane and arrived at San Francisco in time to claim the prize.

Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.