The term BYGONE STATION is composed of four words: ESSO (4 letters), MIR (3 letters), MAP (3 letters), and SKYLAB (6 letters). ESSO is a multinational oil and gas company, formerly known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. MIR is the name of the first modular space station, which was operated by the Soviet Union from 1986 to 2001. MAP stands for the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a satellite launched in 2001 to measure the cosmic microwave background radiation. Finally, SKYLAB was the first United States space station, which was launched in 1973 and re-entered Earth's atmosphere in 1979.