Gordo in Gordo's Skylab Deterrent (1979)

In this two-week vignette from the late Seventies, Gordo finds himself in a state of perpetual terror caused by an unseen threat from above. Like many millions of other people walking the surface of planet Earth at the time, he was obsessed with one plea: Please don't let Skylab fall on me.

Launched in 1973, Skylab was NASA's first swing at a permanent orbital space station. At 80 feet long, 55 feet wide, and a towering three-and-a-half stories tall, it's no wonder that this massive piece of metal was much on everyone's mind when it was announced that it was coming back to Earth -- earlier than planned.

Although Skylab was only briefly occupied, NASA had intended to keep the empty station in orbit as a docking point for future Space Shuttle missions. But stronger-than-expected atmospheric drag ended up pulling Skylab far enough out of its orbit that, by 1979, the space agency had little choice but to bring the behemoth down.

It's no wonder that the image of 200,000 pounds of scientific equipment dropping from the sky captured the popular imagination. Despite NASA's repeated reassurances that the majority of Skylab would end up in the ocean, papers continued to reflect popular paranoia about the plummeting hunk.

"Derelict Skylab Threatens Mother Earth" declared the Arkansas Sun (June 17), while the Ottawa Citizen (June 23) warned of "500 Pieces of Skylab" striking who knows where. The Montreal Star posed the question "Where, Oh Where, Will Skylab Fall," ultimately concluding that "Nobody Is Really Sure" (July 7). While The Buffalo News insisted "Skylab's Falling! Worrier Wants To Know Where!" (June 3), the Atlanta Constitution reassured readers "If Skylab Hits Your Home, You Can Turn To The Law" (July 8). 

Two armored knights prepare for Skylab in Arriola's stamping grounds of Monterey, Ca.
(St.Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11 1979) 

Ultimately, despite all the paranoia and worry, Skylab was brought down with little fuss. The majority of the station crashed inconsequentially into the Indian Ocean, and other pieces landed across largely-uninhabited portions of Western Australia. And just as quickly, Skylab Mania -- and the extremes to which some people went to indulge it or profit from it -- suddenly went away. 

One last note of interest about this story arc -- in asking Pelon for his trumpet mute, Gordo is making reference to a series of storylines from all the way back in the early 1940s in which he and four of his most musical amigos -- Juan Pablo Jones, the rarely-seen Preety Boy Sanchez, grifter Weelo Ramirez (who was written out of the strip in the mid-40s) and, of course, cantinero Pelon Padilla on trumpet -- briefly formed a musical combo called The Hot Streeng Beans. 

 

April 20 - May 3 1979

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