Skylab is a space research laboratory from the 1970s that crashed leaving a trail of debris from Esperance through Balladonia and up to Zanthus in Western Australia.
Skylab was America’s first experimental space station, launched on the last Saturn V rocket. Its objectives were to prove that humans can live and work in space over extended periods and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy beyond Earth-based observations.
Three successive missions were conducted on the space station, each with three crew aboard. The first crew, in addition to experiments, conducted substantial repairs with Skylab suffering damage from technical problems during liftoff.
The first mission lasted for 28 days, starting 10 days after launching in May 1973. The second mission was longer, taking 59 days and completing 858 orbits of the earth. That’s just under 1 hour 40 minutes for each orbit.
The final crew boarded in November 1973, the longest mission taking 84 days. The third crew observed and documented the Kohoutek Comet as well as performing their normal duties. They left Skylab and returned to Earth in Apollo spacecraft, used for launching and returning all of the crews.
Skylab was meant to remain in orbit for another 8-10 years but its orbit became unstable and returned to Earth on 12th July 1979. It partially burned up on re-entry and the largest piece fell into the Indian Oceon off the south west coast of Western Australia.
The remaining debris scattered in Western Australia, starting from near Esperance where it crossed the coast, and continued through to Balladonia and beyond.
NASA offered a $10,000 reward for the first piece of Skylab to be returned to America, triggering an outback treasure hunt. The reward was claimed by Stanley Thornton, a 17 year old from Esperance with a backyard find.
International media was focused on Esperance and Balladonia for a while. American President Jimmy Carter at the time called Balladonia Roadhouse to apologise for the satellite crash in the Australian Outback.
The piece of Skylab on display is not from the original space station, it is a replica piece. The piece is depicted as crashed into the wall.
The name of the museum is Skylab, at least by the name on the brown sign. It has more to show including geology, Aboriginal heritage, construction of the Eyre Highway, and something to keep the kids interested in visiting museums, animal poo identification.
Balladonia Roadhouse is the last stop heading east before the western end of the 90 Mile Straight 
over the Nullabor Plain.
Skylab is a museum inside the Balladonia Roadhouse, on the Eyre Highway. It is about 530km west of the Western Australia/South Australia border and about 190km east of Norseman in Western Australia.
