“Says the president. It seems the orbital station has fallen on your farm ”-“ Aha, now I’ll see the bulls ”
In 1973, the Americans put into orbit a huge shit on 77 tons. This thing was called Skylab. We are particularly aware of the fact that there are at least half a dozen conspiracy theories why she really was needed. The simplest is that there was a gateway for the alien ship.
But it is not important. The important thing is that in 1979 they wanted to flood it in the ocean, but instead flooded it on a pair of Australian farms. The locals in different settlements relished this story with great pleasure, and therefore I could not help but unearth the details. And, of course, a whole circus showed up there.
Picture of Flinders University (South Australia, April 2012)
So, for starters, NASA did not know exactly where Skylab crashes. The refined forecast assumed that it would fall apart in the atmosphere and give a bunch of fragments with a coverage of 7400 kilometers along the vector of entry into the atmosphere. It should be noted that this whole story took place in 1978.
And 1978 is especially remarkable because our Soviet satellite has already fallen to Canada. Thus, a new uranium deposit appeared in Canada. And immediately enriched.
As a result, the forecast of getting into at least one person 1 to 152 was perceived in much the same way as the phrase of the captain of the passenger plane “Dear passengers, please keep calm”.
In America, the shaped circus began. Smart entrepreneurs caught the wave and started selling T-shirts with a target pattern for landing the station, anti-orbital repellent and anti-frag hats. Of course, all this did not carry any functionality other than a humorous souvenir.
In June 1979 it became clear that there was already a little bit left before entering the atmosphere. American newspapers offered "Insurance from Skaylab" - if the piece fell into the subscriber, he would have written a refund. By the way, open the home insurance contract, if you have one - the echoes of that story are still in the sample documents. You, most likely, are still protected from the lumps of artificial earth satellites. Still, the expectation is close to zero, but what a chic psychological effect!
But back to the circus in the United States. For this story, it is important that San Francisco Examiner set a prize of 10 thousand dollars to the one who brings the first piece of Skylab in less than 72 hours after the fall. Since there was already a forecast for the Indian Ocean, it was assumed that this was just an entertainment bet that would not play.
In North Carolina, News Herald reported that the local hotel called itself "the official landing platform of Skylab (with a marked target) and arranges a disco."
After NASA pointed out on July 11, the Scottish Glasgow Herald reported that “anxious vacationers in Devon expect to sit until the morning in the old smuggler cave.”
NASA specifically screwed up with the forecast. July 13 in Perth saw something like bright fireworks. These are the pieces of Skylab began to pour on Australia. Most of the fragments fell near the town of Kalgoorlie, a few more fragments went to the sides.
A source
At NASA, they realized with horror that part of the fragments had spilled out onto a farm near Balladonia. There was a cowboy and 3 more members of his family. Australians visually confirmed the fall of the fragments there and gave the Americans a farmer’s phone. In the US, everyone stood on the ears about the international incident with damage, so the cowboy at night was called by President Jimmy Carter. Locals love to retell this story like this:
- Hello, Mr. Syler. Sorry for the late call, but you would like to talk to US President Jim Carter.
The farmer, half asleep, sincerely fucked up by what is happening, and thinking that this is a joke, resolves:
- Well, let him speak.
Turns on the president:
- Mr. Siler, I personally and the US Government offer you sincere apologies for this incident. Tell me, please, nobody was injured on your farm?
- BUT! Now look bulls ... It seems not, do not worry!
It is difficult to restore an exact dialogue, but the local hit, which for another 9 years led the charts on the radio, included such words:
On the same night, pieces of the station swept through the wall of the boy’s barn named Sten Thornton. He showed civil vigilance: he took a pair and carried the rangers. Rangers contacted Perth on the radio and found out what kind of garbage. Wall told the whole story, not forgetting to mention the prize in San Francisco. The guy turned out to be a true Australian: he had his passport with him, he grabbed pieces and rushed to the nearest airfield. The Rangers organized a local flight for him to the international airport, because at stake was the honor of the country - after all, Sten, in fact, argued with the Americans. After 24 hours, the guy kicked the door of the editorial office. The prize was given to him after an interview on the radio. The calculation was correct - he earned in the end, taking into account all expenses, about 4 thousand dollars.
At this time, a task force was sent from NASA to Kalgoorlie — pick up all the pieces of the payload (pieces of tanks scattered in other areas), which otherwise could end up somewhere in the USSR. Here is how their fiasco poetically described Time magazine:
And in Balladonia, Mr. Siler still understood that he was not being played out, and the president really called. He poured himself a little for not asking a piece of dollars for moral damage and went to inspect his possessions. He has one of those farms, which is about 100 to 200 kilometers for beef cattle. A couple of kilometers from home, he found large fragments, then a bunch of small ones. Collected and brought to him. A couple of weeks later, collectors began to buy them from him - let me remind you that the station was advertised all over the world for almost a year, and everyone wanted a piece of it. From Shanghai offered 20 thousand dollars. Of course, he could not resist.
At the same time somewhere on the farm waiting for him even pieces of the station. In the end, he abandoned his animal husbandry, sold the gobies, and in the coming years he sold tickets to search for pieces of Skylab. You come by jeep to him, pay by the day - and drive, how many will fit. All your pieces found. The entertainment lasted for many years, until the farm was combed like a comb. They say (I did not find the evidence) that it was at this moment that Mr. Syler went to Perth and bought a decommissioned military plane with an aluminum body there. After that, the tourists on his farm began to find "pieces of Skylab" a little more often.
Now back to the small town of Esperançu. Most likely, before the events there, the city-forming enterprise was a gas station, and a couple of years later another small museum of the fallen Skylab was added.
So, local residents were outraged by the fact that their Americans violated the peace and sued them under the article "throwing garbage." The city was a lawyer (it seems, from the "gray-haired strangers", judging by the procreation), who proved that under the 1967 agreement on space objects, US property spoiled the natural beauty of Australia. They won the trial, and the US government was fined 400 bucks in favor of the city treasury Esperanza.
The wall of their little museum, our days.
Now links. According to Skylab, here is one of the most complete assemblies of facts (this is something like a diploma at an Australian university, and at the end there are many proofs, but the material is available by registration for scientific purposes). Here is a shorter press release (plus some new details). About how we dropped the spy satellite Cosmos-954 with a nuclear reactor on board to Canada, and how it was then compensated, is well described on Wiki . lozga wrote well about his reactor right here .
In 1991, we already tried to put the Salyut-7 in the zone of the “cemetery of space ships” near Christmas Island, but missed and got into Argentina. Therefore, in 2001, remembering all these cases, when the “Mir” descended from orbit, Australia, Japan and Fiji prepared and sent a storm warning to residents - they say, it’s better not to leave the houses until the Russians are finished.
But it is not important. The important thing is that in 1979 they wanted to flood it in the ocean, but instead flooded it on a pair of Australian farms. The locals in different settlements relished this story with great pleasure, and therefore I could not help but unearth the details. And, of course, a whole circus showed up there.
Picture of Flinders University (South Australia, April 2012)
So, for starters, NASA did not know exactly where Skylab crashes. The refined forecast assumed that it would fall apart in the atmosphere and give a bunch of fragments with a coverage of 7400 kilometers along the vector of entry into the atmosphere. It should be noted that this whole story took place in 1978.
And 1978 is especially remarkable because our Soviet satellite has already fallen to Canada. Thus, a new uranium deposit appeared in Canada. And immediately enriched.
As a result, the forecast of getting into at least one person 1 to 152 was perceived in much the same way as the phrase of the captain of the passenger plane “Dear passengers, please keep calm”.
In America, the shaped circus began. Smart entrepreneurs caught the wave and started selling T-shirts with a target pattern for landing the station, anti-orbital repellent and anti-frag hats. Of course, all this did not carry any functionality other than a humorous souvenir.
In June 1979 it became clear that there was already a little bit left before entering the atmosphere. American newspapers offered "Insurance from Skaylab" - if the piece fell into the subscriber, he would have written a refund. By the way, open the home insurance contract, if you have one - the echoes of that story are still in the sample documents. You, most likely, are still protected from the lumps of artificial earth satellites. Still, the expectation is close to zero, but what a chic psychological effect!
But back to the circus in the United States. For this story, it is important that San Francisco Examiner set a prize of 10 thousand dollars to the one who brings the first piece of Skylab in less than 72 hours after the fall. Since there was already a forecast for the Indian Ocean, it was assumed that this was just an entertainment bet that would not play.
In North Carolina, News Herald reported that the local hotel called itself "the official landing platform of Skylab (with a marked target) and arranges a disco."
After NASA pointed out on July 11, the Scottish Glasgow Herald reported that “anxious vacationers in Devon expect to sit until the morning in the old smuggler cave.”
NASA specifically screwed up with the forecast. July 13 in Perth saw something like bright fireworks. These are the pieces of Skylab began to pour on Australia. Most of the fragments fell near the town of Kalgoorlie, a few more fragments went to the sides.
A source
At NASA, they realized with horror that part of the fragments had spilled out onto a farm near Balladonia. There was a cowboy and 3 more members of his family. Australians visually confirmed the fall of the fragments there and gave the Americans a farmer’s phone. In the US, everyone stood on the ears about the international incident with damage, so the cowboy at night was called by President Jimmy Carter. Locals love to retell this story like this:
- Hello, Mr. Syler. Sorry for the late call, but you would like to talk to US President Jim Carter.
The farmer, half asleep, sincerely fucked up by what is happening, and thinking that this is a joke, resolves:
- Well, let him speak.
Turns on the president:
- Mr. Siler, I personally and the US Government offer you sincere apologies for this incident. Tell me, please, nobody was injured on your farm?
- BUT! Now look bulls ... It seems not, do not worry!
It is difficult to restore an exact dialogue, but the local hit, which for another 9 years led the charts on the radio, included such words:
Balladonia night
Jimmy phoned up sorry
Balladonia night
Locals
On the same night, pieces of the station swept through the wall of the boy’s barn named Sten Thornton. He showed civil vigilance: he took a pair and carried the rangers. Rangers contacted Perth on the radio and found out what kind of garbage. Wall told the whole story, not forgetting to mention the prize in San Francisco. The guy turned out to be a true Australian: he had his passport with him, he grabbed pieces and rushed to the nearest airfield. The Rangers organized a local flight for him to the international airport, because at stake was the honor of the country - after all, Sten, in fact, argued with the Americans. After 24 hours, the guy kicked the door of the editorial office. The prize was given to him after an interview on the radio. The calculation was correct - he earned in the end, taking into account all expenses, about 4 thousand dollars.
At this time, a task force was sent from NASA to Kalgoorlie — pick up all the pieces of the payload (pieces of tanks scattered in other areas), which otherwise could end up somewhere in the USSR. Here is how their fiasco poetically described Time magazine:
The desert land of sands and rare bushes ... Souvenir hunters flooded wastelands in jeeps, Land Rovers and private jets. They were fast enough to find the wreckage of a fallen station, including a large cylindrical object and many small pieces. Old-timers say that the last time such confusion was when the Irishman Peddy Hannan found small gold nuggets here.
And in Balladonia, Mr. Siler still understood that he was not being played out, and the president really called. He poured himself a little for not asking a piece of dollars for moral damage and went to inspect his possessions. He has one of those farms, which is about 100 to 200 kilometers for beef cattle. A couple of kilometers from home, he found large fragments, then a bunch of small ones. Collected and brought to him. A couple of weeks later, collectors began to buy them from him - let me remind you that the station was advertised all over the world for almost a year, and everyone wanted a piece of it. From Shanghai offered 20 thousand dollars. Of course, he could not resist.
At the same time somewhere on the farm waiting for him even pieces of the station. In the end, he abandoned his animal husbandry, sold the gobies, and in the coming years he sold tickets to search for pieces of Skylab. You come by jeep to him, pay by the day - and drive, how many will fit. All your pieces found. The entertainment lasted for many years, until the farm was combed like a comb. They say (I did not find the evidence) that it was at this moment that Mr. Syler went to Perth and bought a decommissioned military plane with an aluminum body there. After that, the tourists on his farm began to find "pieces of Skylab" a little more often.
Now back to the small town of Esperançu. Most likely, before the events there, the city-forming enterprise was a gas station, and a couple of years later another small museum of the fallen Skylab was added.
So, local residents were outraged by the fact that their Americans violated the peace and sued them under the article "throwing garbage." The city was a lawyer (it seems, from the "gray-haired strangers", judging by the procreation), who proved that under the 1967 agreement on space objects, US property spoiled the natural beauty of Australia. They won the trial, and the US government was fined 400 bucks in favor of the city treasury Esperanza.
The wall of their little museum, our days.
Now links. According to Skylab, here is one of the most complete assemblies of facts (this is something like a diploma at an Australian university, and at the end there are many proofs, but the material is available by registration for scientific purposes). Here is a shorter press release (plus some new details). About how we dropped the spy satellite Cosmos-954 with a nuclear reactor on board to Canada, and how it was then compensated, is well described on Wiki . lozga wrote well about his reactor right here .
In 1991, we already tried to put the Salyut-7 in the zone of the “cemetery of space ships” near Christmas Island, but missed and got into Argentina. Therefore, in 2001, remembering all these cases, when the “Mir” descended from orbit, Australia, Japan and Fiji prepared and sent a storm warning to residents - they say, it’s better not to leave the houses until the Russians are finished.
All Articles