| In 1984, high above the Earth's surface, an astronaut captured a satellite.
It was the second satellite captured that mission.
Pictured above, astronaut
Dale A. Gardner
flies free using the
Manned Maneuvering Unit and begins to
attach a control device dubbed the Stinger to the rotating Westar 6 satellite.
Communications satellite
Westar 6 had suffered a rocket malfunction that left it unable to reach its intended high
geosynchronous orbit.
Both the previously caught
Palapa B-2
satellite and the
Westar 6 satellite were guided into the cargo bay of the
Space Shuttle Discovery
and returned to Earth.
Westar 6
was subsequently refurbished and
sold.
Credit:
STS-51A,
NASA
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