Skylab, the largest spacecraft ever to fall back to Earth, met its fiery end on July 11, 1979, after flying directly over Everett, Washington, on its last orbit. On the news that night before the crash, broadcaster Walter Cronkite, in his rich baritone voice, said, "NASA says there is $a$ little chance it will land in a populated area." (Italics added.) After a commercial he immediately corrected himself, saying, "I meant to say 'there is little chance' Skylab will hit a populated area." In fact, it landed primarily in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, though several pieces were recovered near the town of Esperance, Australia, which sent the U.S. State Department a $\$ 400$ bill for littering. The cause of Skylab's crash was the friction it experienced in the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere. As the radius of Skylab's orbit decreased, did its speed increase, decrease, or stay the same?