Skylab

In July 1979, people began to stare nervously at the sky. Skylab, the orbiting US space laboratory, was due to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, but no one knew exactly where the 77 tons of equipment would actually 'land'.

On the evening of July 11, revellers across the US painted target symbols on their roofs and held 'The sky is falling' parties, but eventually went to bed disappointed; The spacecraft, disintegrating upon re-entry, scattered debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

No injuries were reported, although many Australians were miffed about having their country used as a dumping ground for American space junk.