minimize the risk of re-entry on a populated area. They aimed the station at a spot south-southeast of Cape Town, South Africa, and re-entry began at approximately 16:37 UTC, July 11, 1979. The station did not burn up as fast as NASA expected. Debris landed about east of Perth, Western Australia due to a four-percent calculation error, and was found between Esperance, Western Australia and Rawlinna, from 31° to 34° S and 122° to 126° E, about 130–150 km (81–93 miles) radius around Balladonia, Western Australia. Residents and an airline pilot saw dozens of colorful flares as large pieces broke up in the atmosphere; the debris landed in an almost unpopulated area, but the sightings still caused NASA to fear human injury or property damage. The Shire of Esperance light-heartedly fined NASA A$400 for littering. (The fine was written off three months later, but was eventually paid on behalf of NASA in April 2009, after Scott Barley of Highway Radio raised the funds from his morning show listeners.) Stan Thornton found 24 pieces of Skylab at his home in Esperance, and a Philadelphia businessman flew him, his parents, and his girlfriend to San Francisco where he collected the Examiner prize and another US$1,000 from the businessman. Analysis of the debris showed that the station had disintegrated above the Earth, much lower than expected. After the demise of Skylab, NASA focused on the reusable Spacelab module, an orbital workshop that could be deployed with the Space Shuttle and returned to Earth. The next American major space station project was Space Station Freedom, which was merged into the International Space Station in 1993 and launched starting in 1998. Shuttle-Mir was another project and led to the US funding Spektr, Priroda, and the Mir Docking Module in the 1990s. Launchers, rescue, and cancelled missions Launchers Launch vehicles: SA-513 (Skylab) SA-206 (Skylab 2) SA-207 (Skylab 3) SA-208 (Skylab 4) SA-209 (Skylab Rescue, not launched) Skylab Rescue There was a Skylab Rescue mission assembled for the second crewed mission to Skylab, but it was not needed. Another rescue mission was assembled for the last Skylab and was also on standby for ASTP. That launch stack might have been used for Skylab 5 (which would have been the fourth crewed Skylab mission), but this was cancelled and the SA-209 Saturn IB rocket was put on display at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Skylab 5 Skylab 5 would