In 1979 the United States dropped its 77-ton Skylab space station out of orbit and could not say where it would land, scattering debris across Western Australia — and the tiny shire of Esperance, surveying the wreckage, fined the superpower $400 for littering, a ticket America left unpaid for 30 years.

In 1979 the United States dropped its 77-ton Skylab space station out of orbit and could not say where it would land, scattering debris across Western Australia — and the tiny shire of Esperance, surveying the wreckage, fined the superpower $400 for littering, a ticket America left unpaid for 30 years.

In the summer of 1979, the United States dropped a 77-ton space station out of the sky and could not say where it would land. Skylab, America’s first space station, launched in 1973 and abandoned in 1974, was supposed to stay in orbit until the new Space Shuttle could fly up and boost it to safety. The shuttle ran years late, the Sun grew unexpectedly active and thickened the upper atmosphere, and Skylab began falling faster than anyone had plan…