The day Jimmy Carter told Australia he was sorry

Washington: A concerned Jimmy Carter apologised to Australia after America’s first space station exploded as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, scattering debris across the outback in a spectacular display of sonic booms and flashing lights.

The little-publicised apology from the 39th US president, who died on Sunday at the age of 100, took place in 1979, during his first and only term in the White House.

A 1979 file image of Skylab, at the end of its mission when it crashed back to Earth. Skylab was the first United States manned space station, launched on May 14, 1973.Credit: Archive

“I was concerned to learn that fragments of Skylab may have landed in Australia,” Carter wrote in a message to then prime minister Malcolm Fraser, referring to the 77-tonne space station operated by NASA and the US government.

“I am relieved to hear your government’s preliminary assessment that no injuries have resulted. Nevertheless, I have instructed the Department of State to be in touch with your government immediately and to offer any assistance that you may need.”

Skylab’s return to Earth marked the end of the $US2.6 billion ($4.2 billion) project, launched in May 1973 in a bid to prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods.

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser (right) and then US president Jimmy Carter at the White House in 1980.Credit: Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia

The space station was occupied by three groups of astronauts who conducted nearly 300 scientific and technical experiments on board, including medical experiments to study the effects of zero gravity on the human body.

Skylab re‐entered the atmosphere several thousand kilometres further from its orbital track than planned – sending flaming debris into the West Australian desert – after a command was sent to alter its path away from the US in a bid to “avoid risking American lives”.

Had there been injuries or property damage in Australia, the US was bound by treaty to indemnify those hurt.

Searching for Skylab pieces at Balladonia Motel, about 900 kilometres east of Perth, on July 12, 1979. Credit: Fairfax Media

“We’re glad it’s down, but we would have liked to have seen it never sighted over Australia,” Skylab project director Richard Smith was quoted saying in a 1979 New York Times article shortly after the space station re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.

Tributes continue to pour in for the former president, who died in his home state of Georgia on Sunday (US time).

The former peanut farmer turned Nobel Peace Prize winner will be honoured with a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, January 9 (US time), with US President Joe Biden delivering the eulogy.

Funeral services will begin this Saturday, when a motorcade accompanying Carter will travel to his childhood home in Plains, Georgia.

The procession will briefly pause in front of his family’s farm before moving on to the Carter Presidential Centre, where he will lie in repose until the early morning of Tuesday, January 7.

The remains of the late president will then be brought to Washington, where he will lie in state at the US Capitol Building until his funeral on Thursday, which has been declared a national day of mourning.

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