there was an early plan to use the space shuttle to go up and rondesvous and boost it to a higher altitude to still be available for use but the shuttle wasn't ready to fly. so what happened is after the orbit diminished, nasa had to bring this back in a controlled reentry. in 1979, sky lab was brought back down and it streaked into meteor, it broke up over the indian ocean and a few pieces fell in parts of australia and were recovered. but fortunately no one was hit, no one was injured, no property was damaged. now i paused here at sky lab because this was still news in 1976 when this museum opened. people streamed in here literally by the millions that first year. they were thrilled not only to see the old aircraft but to see the new spacecraft, to see what had been happening in space that they had seen on the news and heard about. and sky lab was one of these featured attractions. really focus on recent events in well now we are in the exploring the planets gallery where we really focus on recent events in planetary exploration. this is one of my favorite parts in the museum because thi