#sts-49

The first and only ever 3-person EVA. STS-49 uses the old reliable hand snatch to capture the INTELSAT VI (F-3) satellite, stranded in an unusable orbit since its launch aboard a Titan vehicle in March 1990. This was the first flight of the new orbiter Endeavour (OV-105).

Credit: NASA

Image Number: S49-91-026

"The Space Shuttle Endeavour rests atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later redesignated the Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, Calif., shortly before being ferried back to the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Endeavour landed at 1:57 p.m. (PDT) May 16, 1992, marking the completion of the new orbiter's first mission in space during which the crew of seven rendezvoused with the Intelsat VI satellite, attached a booster motor, and redeployed it into a high geosynchronous orbit. Endeavour and its crew were launched on a planned 7-day mission May 7, 1992, but the landing was delayed two days to allow extra time to rescue Intelsat and complete space station assembly techniques originally planned."

Date: May 1992

"KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA.- Endeavour, NASA's newest Space Stuttle orbiter, heads into Bay 1 of the Orbiter Processing Facility to undergo preparations for its maiden voyage, STS-49, scheduled for May 1992. Endeavour trades places with the Orbiter Discovery, which transfers to High Bay 2 in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Discovery is next slated to fly this fall on mission STS-40. With the addition of Endeavour, NASA now has four Space Shuttle orbiters."

Date: July 25, 1991

NASA Johnson

s49-91-026

STS049-91-026 (13 May 1992) --- Three astronauts hold onto the 4.5-ton Intelsat VI satellite after a six-handed "capture" was made minutes earlier. Left to right are astronauts Richard J. Hieb, Thomas D. Akers and Pierre J. Thuot. Thuot stands on the end of the remote manipulator system arm, from which he had made two earlier unsuccessful grapple attempts on two-person extravehicular activity sessions. Ground controllers and crew members agreed that a third attempt, using three mission specialists in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Endeavour, was the effort needed to accomplish the capture feat.

"Three STS-49 crewmembers hold onto the 4.5-ton Intelsat VI satellite in May 1992 after a six-handed "capture" was made minutes earlier. Left to right are astronauts Richard J. Hieb, Thomas D. Akers and Pierre J. Thuot. Thuot stands on the end of the Canadarm, which was instrumental as a mobile working platform in the capture."

Date: May 1992

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This orbiter tribute of space shuttle Endeavour, or OV-105, hangs in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It features Endeavour soaring into orbit above the sailing vessel HMS Endeavour for which it was named. The Cupola, delivered to the International Space Station by Endeavour on STS-130, frames various images that represent the processing and execution of the Space Shuttle Program. Clockwise from top, are the first-ever use of a drag chute during the STS-49 landing, rollout to a launch pad, a ferry flight return to Kennedy, rolling into an orbiter processing facility, docking to the International Space Station, and lifting operations before being mated to an external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The background image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and signifies the first shuttle servicing mission, which was performed by Endeavour's STS-61 crew. Crew-designed patches from Endeavour’s maiden voyage through its final mission are shown ascending toward the stars. Five orbiter tributes are on display in the firing room, representing Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Endeavour and Discovery."

Date: July 29, 2010