mission, the Westar 6 and Palapa B2 communications satellites ended up in incorrect orbits due to failures of their upper stage rockets. During STS-51A in November 1984, Discovery’s second trip into space, the crew of Commanderworked as a team to not only deploy two new satellites but also to retrieve the two wayward but otherwise healthy satellites for return to Earth.
Discovery arrived back at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 10, returning from Edwards Air Force Base in California following the. Workers towed it to the Orbiter Processing Facility the next day to begin the process of refurbishing it for STS-51A. On Oct. 18, they rolled it over to the Vehicle Assembly Building , for stacking with an External Tank and twin Solid Rocket Boosters.
Following deployment from Challenger during STS-41B, the upper stages of both the Westar 6 and Palapa B2 satellites malfunctioned, leaving them in non-useable 160-by-600-mile-high orbits instead of the intended 22,300-mile-high geostationary orbits required for their normal operations. While both satellites remained healthy, their own thrusters could not boost them to the proper orbits.
Left: Nighttime deploy of the Anik D2 satellite. Middle: Deploy of the Leasat 1 satellite. Right: Leasat 1 as it departs from Discovery. Fisher then steered the RMS to capture a grapple fixture mounted on the stinger between Allen and the satellite. She then maneuvered them over the payload bay where Gardner waited to remove its omnidirectional antenna and install the bridge structure. However, Gardner could not attach the ABS to the satellite due to an unexpected clearance issue on the satellite.