The 405 Aired Sept 16th, 2025

In June 1973, the 2nd set of astronauts to live in Skylab left earth, learn what the astronaut Owen Garriott did, in O.K.'s version of Rest of the Story.

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Episode Transcript

OK Solberg (00:00):
I wanna again welcome you to the 04:05 coffee
break, guys. Tuesday, we missedyesterday because of the
football game, but we're back upand running. Get you a cup of
coffee, glass iced tea, orbottled water. Let's see what's
happening. Spring wheat, $5.15 abushel. 550 pound steer calf,
$4.12 a pound, I hope to shout.A butcher hog in Iowa, 59¢ a

(00:27):
pound. And a 100lb fat lamb inBillings is worth $2 and 4
pennies. Well, guys, there'smore, much more. Backwards, turn
backwards in the time in ourflight. Make me a child again
just for tonight. The timemachine is going back to the

(00:48):
year 1973, in fact, thesummer 1973. I myself had just
finished my sophomore year inMalta High School, soon to
embark into my junior year. TheMalta Mustangs had won the state
basketball championship in 1971,and again in 1972. In 1973, the

(01:13):
Mustangs took a sabbatical.
In 1973, the Vietnam War beganwith a peace agreement. The
Paris Peace Accords, althoughhonored in some respects, the
peace agreement was violated byboth North and South Vietnam.
North Vietnam released allAmerican prisoners of war, and

(01:37):
The United States completed itsmilitary withdrawal from South
Vietnam. While in 1973, it hadonly been four summers past when
Woodstock played in a field inNew York State, and it had also
been only four summers past thatApollo 11 had landed on the moon

(02:00):
and we got a report from space,one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind. So, yes,Apollo 11 in 1969, but with all
the happenings in the world atthat time, NASA's
accomplishments played secondfiddle to say, well, the Vietnam

(02:22):
War or other high profilehistorical events.
So in 1973, without cable TV andcertainly without the Internet,
some news got lost to thepeople. Sure, we heard Neil
Armstrong's powerful words in1969. And guys, we also heard in

(02:45):
1970 from Apollo thirteen thefamous line, Houston, we have a
problem. But after that, NASAand its accomplishments got
bumped to the lower shelf. Butdo you remember Skylab?
Oh, yes. It was a major spacehappening. The first men to live

(03:07):
in Skylab were sent up in May1973. The second set of
astronauts to live in Skylabwent up the same year in the
month of June. Included in thatthree man crew was Owen
Garriott.
That three man crew lived inSkylab for fifty nine days, way

(03:29):
back in the summer in 1973. OwenGarriott was a talented
astronaut, and guys, he alsoloved to laugh. That's my kind
of guy. He planned out a funprank before he left for space.
At home, he took a handheld taperecorder and had his wife record

(03:51):
her voice with some prescriptedlines.
And she recorded them into thecassette tape recorder, and he
took the tape and the recorderinto space. So now to refresh
your memory, we have twomessages from space etched into
our minds. One small step andHouston, we have a problem. But

(04:15):
why didn't I hear about thismessage from space until just
last week? So with Owen Garriottin the Skylab and communication
happening daily with Houston,one day, just before the daily
check-in with Earth, when thecontroller asked Skylab, this is

(04:37):
Houston.
Do you read? Garriott pressedplay. A female voice from orbit
answered, good afternoon,Houston. This is Skylab. Silence
fell over the line.
Then from mission control came ashaky voice, who who who is

(05:02):
this? The voice came back fromspace. Hi, Robert. This is
Helen, Owen's wife. A longpause.
And then Robert Crippen, totallyconfused said, what what are you
doing up there? Oh, I justthought I'd bring the guys

(05:24):
something to eat. Everything'sfresh and homemade. Then radio
silence, total chaos. For awhole minute, mission control
froze, then the connection cutaway.
End of story. Why am I alwaysthe last to know? Thanks to my

(05:44):
friend and classmate, BradHicks, over there in the Seattle
area for sending that delightfultidbit from space. I remember
what I was doing back in 1973.How about you?
But I had never ever heard thatone. Now I'll never forget it.

(06:04):
Remember the days of old,consider the years of many
generations. Ask your father andhe will show you, your elders,
and they will tell you.Deuteronomy 32:7
So until next time, as you goout there, remember now, don't
be bitter.