NASA Skylab

In 1979, as Skylab was about to crash back into the earth, the San Francisco Examiner offered $10,000 to the first person to deliver a piece to them within 72hrs. They knew it wasn't heading toward the USA and thought the prize would go unclaimed. It crashed in Esperance, Western Australia and an Aussie teenager collected a piece, jumped on a plane with no passport or luggage, and collected his prize.