by Robert N. Wold

It happened 15 years ago, the same year we first tensed up in the motion picture, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and also sat on our seat’s edge during the televised 1984 Summer Olympics Games, where-among many emotional thrills-U.S. gymnast Mary Lou Retton won five gold medals.

With appropriate fanfare, 1984 also was the 25th anniversary year for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Things were going swimmingly for NASA, where its teams made history with memorable feats of another kind.

The historic 1984 space mission and the unique medal-winning stories of four men and one woman aboard Space Shuttle mission Discovery 51A is one of the most interesting events in satellite history. They literally salvaged two malfunctioning satellites-boldly snared from space-for safe transport back to earth.

The Space Shuttle

STS, the Space Transportation System of NASA, more commonly known as the Space Shuttle program, won its government funding in 1972 around the same time funding for NASA’s highly productive research and development program for communications satellites was being sharply trimmed.

Shuttles became the world’s first reusable space vehicles. They were designed, NASA explained, as "part spacecraft and part aircraft to revolutionize the way people work in space." Four successful test flights in 1981-82 preceded the startup of operations in November 1982.

The shuttles of the 1980s were known as Columbia, Challenger, Discovery or Atlantis. It was contemplated that funding for the vast program revenues would come in part from commercial satellite launching, which NASA heretofore had provided from ground-based, expendable-booster facilities.

Columbia STS 5’s flight in November 1982 was the program’s first operational flight. It was also the first-ever spaceflight with four people aboard. Its revolutionary in-space launches of two commercial communications satellites-SBS 3 and Anik C3-were successes as the birds "ejected like frisbees" and soared off into transfer orbits that delivered them to high-altitude parking slots.

Manned shuttles became the ultimate modern moving vans that could transport cargo loads both to and from space. We will experience this in the story of Discovery flight STS 51A.

Crewing The Shuttles

In NASA’s shuttle sociology, so to speak, onboard astronauts either drove or lifted. "Pilots" would be responsible for flying and maintaining the orbiter, and "mission specialists" would be responsible for experiments and payloads. A third onboard job category, usually assigned to non-astronaut experts, was "payload specialist."

The crews had use of some exotic space-oriented tools. Two of these tools would figure prominently in the salvage mission of Discovery STS 51A. The first was the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS), a 50-foot (15.2 meter) crane designed to mimic the human arm by moving large and heavy payloads in and out of the shuttle’s 60-foot (18.3 meter) cargo bay. The second tool was the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) backpack, first dreamed of for sci-fi heroes like Buck Rogers but developed in the 1960s for real-world Extravehicular Activity (EVA).

Satellites Adrift

In February 1984, the 10th shuttle mission-Challenger STS 41B-successfully disembarked communications satellites Westar 6 and Palapa B2, but both satellites became stranded in useless elliptical orbits after their perigee kick motors misfired.

On earth, some 600 miles (965 km) below, the manufacturer of both satellites-Hughes Aircraft’s Space and Communications Group-electronically identified the wayward satellites’ locations and reported both to be in otherwise good working condition.

The Challenger 41B crew, unable to provide further in-space assistance, descended to the shuttle program’s first landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Orphans’ Future?

Ownership of some $200 million worth of satellite hardware suddenly transferred to a group of British and U.S. insurance underwriters. The original owners-Western Union (Westar 6) and the Republic of Indonesia (Palapa B2)-were paid off while Hughes obtained the underwriters’ approval of dual $2.5 million plans to salvage the two satellites.

Indonesia, in the meanwhile, ordered from Hughes a replacement HS 376 to be known as Palapa B3, which was re-named Palapa B2P and launched from Florida in March 1987.

Western Union in 1984 was top-heavy with Westar satellite traffic but burdened with corporate financial difficulties that would ultimately force the company to sell its satellite system assets. Loss of revenues from the demise of Westar 6 was devastating in a year when the company also abandoned plans to own and operate high-power direct broadcasting satellites (DBS).

No Handles To Grab

NASA and Hughes undertook the designing of certain recovery hardware as well as the maneuvering of each satellite into a feasible rendezvous with Discovery.

Once NASA had returned the salvaged cargo to Florida, Hughes would ship the birds to Los Angeles for refurbishments, including repairs of body dents caused by micro-meteorite collisions during nine months of low earth orbit exposure.

The cylindrical Hughes HS 376 workhorses, designed to extend in operational orbit like spyglasses-with blossoming antennas and solar panels-resembled soup-can replicas nine feet (2.7 meters) tall.

In-space weights of the satellites averaged some 1,200 pounds (544 kg) each, but weight above the earth’s atmosphere was not going to be the Discovery crew’s problem.

Instead, the major challenge was literally to get ahold of the cylindrical rascals. The satellites had not been designed for retrieval, meaning there were no handles to grab. But the bright folks at Hughes and NASA came up with some solutions.

One space-walking astronaut would attach a grappling device called a "stinger" to the satellite’s base. This would curtail all spinning, already reduced from 50 to two revolutions per minute through electronic signals sent by Hughes via tracking stations worldwide.

At the other end of the cylinder, a second astronaut would attach an A-frame bridge structure to be used for a connection to the shuttle’s crane. The bird could then be swung into its cargo-bay nest and secured for the possibly precarious descent to Florida.

To set the stage, Hughes engineers maneuvered each satellite into a circular-orbit at an altitude of 225 miles (362 km), for its ultimate rendezvous with Discovery.

The Piano Movers

The five-person Discovery crew was engaged in months of pre-flight preparation. Commander Fred Hauck predicted salvage success as "50/50" because the satellites had not been designed for either retrieval or EVA servicing.

Hauck and co-pilot Dave Walker, along with two of the other three crew members-Anna Lee Fisher and Dale A. Gardner-had all joined NASA in January 1978. As payload mission specialists, Fisher and Gardner would join Dr. Joseph Allen, a "scientist astronaut" since 1967.

In his native Indiana, Allen-at 5 feet, 6 inches and 99 pounds-had been a state wrestling champion in high school, an athletic skill that would prove helpful in the salvage. He was Phi Beta Kappa at DePauw University and a Fulbright scholar, and earned his doctorate in physics at Yale.

Fisher, a medical doctor, graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) with a bachelor degree in chemistry followed by her doctorate in medicine. Her specialty was in emergency medicine, which she practiced in several Los Angeles hospitals.

Gardner grew up in Sherburn, MN, and during high school lived in Savanna, IL-a Mississippi River town below Dubuque, IA. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics and went on to become a captain in the U.S. Navy.

Mission Impossible?

Before the salvage projects could begin, the Discovery crew had to launch two new communications satellites, Canada’s Anik D2 and a Leasat 2 bird owned by Hughes.

With these chores satisfactorily completed and the cargo bay waiting for new occupants, Allen and Gardner prepared for their EVA excursions, with Fisher remaining onboard to operate the crane. Hauck and Walker cruised Discovery into a steady orbit at 225 miles altitude. Hughes and NASA-produced television made live pictures available on earth.

On Novembr 12, Allen was first on stage, advancing untethered to a spinning Palapa B2. He speared the stinger into Palapa’s bottom. Time magazine’s Natalie Angler described it: "For a few hours against the crisp backdrop of space, the rompin’, stompin’ show was something like ‘Sir Lancelot Goes to the Rodeo.’ Bracing his ‘stinger’ spear against his stomach and gently using the thrusters on his $15 million jet-powered backpack like spurs on a well-trained cow pony, Astronaut Joe Allen rode easily into position beside the silvery dragon, or maybe it was a bull: Palapa B2."

Fisher then swung her RMS arm to seize the stinger to coax the now-relaxed bird into proximity with the shuttle. Allen and Gardner, now somewhat remindful of Laurel and Hardy moving a piano in "The Music Box"-or, if you prefer, seeming to be a "highwire act without a net"-began struggling to attach the ill-fitting A-frame.

The difficulty was a small metal obstruction of one-eighth inch not anticipated from Palapa’s working blueprints. As champion wrestler Allen held the weightless satellite aloft-like Atlas with the world on his shoulders-Gardner, a genuine Mr. Fix-It, was able to solve the problem.

A majestic Allen remained statuesque, holding up the satellite, for a complete 90-minute orbit of the earth. From NASA’s Mission Control came a message relayed from his wife Bonnie: "Make sure, love, there are no pigeons on your shoulders." By the time Palapa was onboard and secure, five hours had elapsed.

Next target: Westar 6. This time, Gardner flew to the satellite and inserted the stinger. Fisher now extended her giant RMS arm, with Allen standing on the arm’s end (his feet locked in restraints) so he could grab the top of Westar 6. Then Fisher’s arm swung the whole act-satellite, Allen and Gardner-to the shuttle. Time elapsed: three hours.

The Aftermath

A successful and jubilant crew descended to a 7 a.m. EST Florida landing on November 16. They were greeted by families and a giant press gathering while fun-loving NASA pals persuaded a U.S. Customs official to confront the crew with tough questions about duty owed on $200 million in satellite equipment.

Then-President Ronald Reagan praised the Discovery crew. "I pump a little iron when I get the chance," he said, "but I don’t know about that satellite lifting."

Jubilant executives at Lloyd’s of London, three of whose syndicates had insured the birds, rang a bell and awarded silver medals to the crew for "extraordinary exertions to preserve property from perils."

The Sad News

When Challenger STS 51L exploded 73 seconds into its flight on January 28, 1986, five astronauts and two payload specialists lost their lives. The specialists were Gregory Jarvis, a Hughes Aircraft Co. employee, and Christa McAuliffe, designated "Teacher in Space."

The accident caused a change in U.S. space policy: no longer would the Shuttle carry commercial satellites into orbit. The shuttle program was also delayed for nearly three years.

An Epilogue

Westar 6 was refurbished by Hughes for a new owner, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (Asiasat). As Asiasat 1, it was launched by a Chinese rocket on April 7, 1990.

Less than a week later, the Hughes-refurbished Palapa B2-re-designated by Indonesia as B2R-was successfully re-launched from Florida on April 13, 1990.

Joseph P. Allen, 62, is now chairman of the rapidly growing Veridian Corp. of Alexandria, VA. Anna L. Fisher, 50, is attached to the Astronauts’ Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Dale A. Gardner, 50, a retired Navy Captain, is a TRW site manager working with the government’s Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in Colorado Springs, CO.

California-based Robert N. Wold is a writer specializing in electronic communications history. He may be reached at 949/363-0993, by fax at 949/363-2093, or by e-mail to [email protected].

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