In 1973 Skylab - a 70-tonne laboratory designed for astronauts to conduct experiments in while in space - was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

After six years and 34,981 times around the earth, Skylab's orbit began to decay and, when it was no longer possible for it to be realigned, NASA decided to bring it down once and for all.

Merv Andre, shire president at the time of the crash and now a volunteer at the Esperance Museum, said NASA saw 'down under' as the best place to land Skylab.

"They endeavoured to bring it down where there was a low population," he said.

"NASA was hoping it would come down between the Antarctic and Australia."

Keeping in contact with NASA throughout the process, the local SES and shire received their last message at about 10.30pm on July 12, saying Skylab had successfully landed in the Southern Ocean.

"I went to bed at 11pm and was woken at 12.30am to six sonic booms in quick succession," Mr Andre said.

"The windows and doors rattled, but I didn't click straight away it was Skylab because I'd been told it had already landed."

In the following days the hunt for the remains of Skylab began, with one American newspaper even offering a prize of $10,000 for the first person to arrive in California with a piece of the spacecraft.

Local seventeen-year-old Stan Thornton did exactly that, finding a piece in the chook yard at his family home in Nulsen.

Mr Andre said a multitude of pieces have been found on beaches and farms since then, many of which have been donated to the Esperance Museum.

Among pieces in the museum are oxygen, water and nitrogen tanks, insulation, tiles and even a freezer, yet despite the considerable amount of debris falling upon the area, no people or livestock were killed or injured during the event.

NASA was later issued with a $400 littering fine by the shire ranger, though the organisation never made a payment.

Mr Andre said the publicity Esperance received from the crash of Skylab was "fantastic", the event headlining news around the world.

Souvenirs were also aplenty, with sales being made on a variety of items, from tee shirts to bits of Skylab itself.

Mr Andre said 1979 was a very important year for Western Australia, as it was the 150th anniversary of the State, and Skylab's crash topped it off.

"It gave us worldwide publicity," he said.

"Some even say it put us on the map."