Jesse Spencer is switching a firefighter uniform for a late 1970s look. He’ll star in The Last Days of the Space Age, which is set in 1979 Perth, Australia.
When it comes to a historical fiction series, there are always questions about the story. The main one is whether the story is true or not. It’s especially important when it comes to events that could have happened, such as something that would bring a complete end to the space age as we knew it back then.
The Last Days of the Space Age is based on true events
Yes, the series is in fact based on a true story. If it hadn’t have happened and been widely reported, this could have easily just been told as some sort of cautionary tale.
In the summer of 1979, the largest spacecraft fell back to Earth. The problem was that while NASA knew that the spacecraft was coming down, nobody could tell where or when it would land. NASA thought it had more time than it did, and many around the world were genuinely frightened. Then there were others who would bet on where and when it would land.
Skylab went into space in February 1974. They were there the whole time, and expected another crew to come up and take over. The aim for NASA was to boost its shuttles’ abilities so they could push Skylab further into space and do more testing up there. The crew in 1974 got on their Apollo command capsule, pushed the Skylab a little further up, and left—leaving a welcome bag for the next crew to go in there.
Well, that’s where things took a turn. While NASA thought it would have nine years before it had to deal with Skylab, that wasn’t the case. The sun interfered with NASA’s figures, and the Skylab ended up falling out of space and back to Earth due to the Earth’s gravity pulling it down.
NASA tried to fix its mistake
NASA did make some poor attempts to fix the mistake. However, it couldn’t get a crew off the ground in time to save Skylab. Instead, it had to connect to the computers on the space station and set it on a trajectory that would do the least damage. The aim was Cape Town, South Africa.
Only, Skylab didn’t break apart in the way that was expected. In the end, it landed in the Indian Ocean, just off the coast of Western Australia. This was right at the time that Perth was hosting the Miss Universe pageant.
The Last Days of the Space Age will tell the story through the eyes of three families. The family drama is going to be fictionalized, but the major event is certainly based on an unbelievably true story.
The Last Days of the Space Age will arrive on Hulu on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
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