Space Shuttle Projects

STS-49, the first flight of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour, lifted off from launch pad 39B on May 7, 1992 at 6:40 pm CDT. The STS-49 mission was the first U.S. orbital flight to feature 4 extravehicular activities (EVAs), and the first flight to involve 3 crew members working simultaneously outside of the spacecraft. The primary objective was the capture and redeployment of the INTELSAT VI (F-3), a communication satellite for the International Telecommunication Satellite organization, which was stranded in an unusable orbit since its launch aboard the Titan rocket in March 1990. The 4.5 ton satellite was successfully snared by three astronauts on a third EVA. The three hand-grabbed the errant satellite, pulled it into the cargo bay, and attached a boost-given perigee stage before its release. In this photo, the satellite spins slowly out of cargo bay to begin its “new lift”.