International Space Station program ocean was found to be possible only with Russia's assistance. At the time ISS was launched, the Russian Space Agency had experience from de-orbiting the Salyut 4, 5, 6, and 7 space stations, while NASA's first intentional controlled de-orbit of a satellite (the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory) would not occur for another two years. NASA currently has no spacecraft capable of de-orbiting the ISS at the time of decommissioning. Skylab, the only space station built and launched entirely by the US, decayed from orbit slowly over 5 years, and no attempt was made to de-orbit the station using a deorbital
Transit Research and Attitude Control or destroyed by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test on July 9, 1962 and subsequent radiation belt.) It is expected to orbit for 800 years at an altitude of about . The first poem to be launched into orbit about the Earth was inscribed on the instrument panel of TRAAC. Entitled "Space Prober" and written by Prof. Thomas G. Bergin of Yale University, it reads in part: Transit Research and Attitude Control The Transit Research and Attitude Control (TRAAC) satellite was launched by the U. S. Navy from Cape Canaveral along with Transit 4B on November 15, 1961. The 109