Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1973
Skylab
sky laboratory
- Meaning
- The first US space station, operational 1973–1979.
- Source words
- sky + laboratory
- Coined by
- NASA
- Year
- 1973
Background
NASA held a naming competition for the project and selected the entry submitted by Don Steelman, a US Air Force officer. Skylab re-entered uncontrolled in 1979 and scattered debris across Western Australia; the shire of Esperance fined NASA US$400 for littering.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
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