Nov 8 1984
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In conjunction with the Council of Chief State School Officers, NASA released the Announcement of Opportunity (AO), specifying the eligibility and requirements for selection of a teacher in NASA's Space Flight Participation Program. Through the program, NASA would extend Space Shuttle flight opportunities to a wide segment of private citizens with the purpose of communicating the experience of spaceflight to the public through educational and information programs. NASA intended eventually to fly various categories of space flight participants two to three times per year.
The AO was open to elementary and secondary level teachers in all public, private, and parochial schools in the United States and U.S. territories; in DOD overseas dependents' schools; in Department of State overseas schools; and in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Teachers applying for the flight opportunity would submit an application to illustrate their qualifications and excellence as an educator and demonstrate how they would share the experience with the public. Review panels would select two teachers' nominees for each of the states and organizations identified above for forwarding to a National Review Panel. This panel would select 10 teachers as semifinalists, who would go to JSC for thorough medical examinations, in-depth briefings, and inter-views. NASA would receive the names of five finalists and select the primary and backup candidates to undergo training for spaceflight. NASA's goal was to fly the first teacher on a mission in early 1986. (NASA Release 84-155)
November 8-16: NASA launched on November 8 from KSC the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS mission 51-A with a five-member crew consisting of commander Frederick H. Hauck; pilot David M. Walker; and mission specialists Anna L. Fisher, Dale A. Gardner, and Joseph P. Allen.
During the flight, the crew recovered the satellites Palapa B2 and Westar VI, which had not operated properly following their earlier deployment from the Space Shuttle. The Palapa B2 recovery was the first retrieval ever of a satellite from space, although astronauts previously had caught and repaired the Solar Maximum satellite. Astronauts Allen and Gardner had to move Palapa B2 into the Discovery's cargo bay themselves when an unforeseen obstacle prevented use of the spacecraft's mechanical arm. This resulted in some damage to the power-generating solar cells surrounding the seven-foot wide satellite, but the damage was not expected to interfere with a successful relaunching of the satellite. Later in the flight the same two astronauts took 5 hours and 42 minutes to retrieve Westar VI, a 2,300-pound communications satellite, and bolt it down next to Palapa B2-possibly the shortest $35 million salvage operation ever undertaken, the Washington Post reported. Insurance companies had to pay the owners of the two satellites, the government of Indonesia (Palapa B2), and Western Union Telegraph Company (Westar VI) $180 million. The insurance brokers paid NASA $5.5 million for the satellites' retrieval and Hughes Aircraft Company $5 million for technical help in the retrieval operation. Stephen Merrett, chairman of Merrett Syndicates, an affiliate of Lloyds of London, that helped underwrite the insurance on the satellites, said "I'm proud to be a part of the crowd that put this mission together in just six months" He added, "We expect Palapa to be resold for between $30 and $40 million and Westar for $30 million, and we expect those sales to be concluded very soon" Merrett declined to identify potential buyers of the two satellites.
In interviews later, Allen and Gardner noted that the task of retrieving the satellites was easier than dealing with small items such as tools and the tether wires that tied them to the Space Shuttle's cargo bay. "As objects get smaller in space, they become more difficult to handle. It's really extraordinary how much easier it is to move massive objects like satellites." Allen pointed out that the only trouble they had in retrieving the satellites resulted from their tendency to grip the satellites too hard and move them too quickly in an effort to get them back and secured in the cargo bay in a limited amount of time. "Once you get over that difficult spot where you think you have to have the satellite in a death grip, things are a lot easier," he said.
In addition to the salvage missions, the crew during the flight deployed the Canadian Telesat-H and Hughes Syncom-IV-1 communications satellites. The Radiation Monitor Experiment and the Aggregation of Red Blood Cells experiments were carried out in the orbiter's middeck.
Discovery landed November 16 at 7 a.m. local time at KSC. "Two landings in a row at Kennedy, and this time with a cargo bay as full as it was when it took off," said Jesse W. Moore, NASA associate administrator for space flight. "It's hard to believe those two satellites are sitting out there on the run-way after being in space for more than eight months" (NASA MOR E-420-51-A-11 [prelaunch] Nov 8/84; NASA Release 84-144; MSFC Release 84-90; JSC Release 84-051; W Post, Nov 13/84, A-11 and D-1, Nov 14/84, A-1, Nov 17/84, A-10, Nov 18/84, A-19, Nov 28/84, A-18; NY Times, Nov 18/84, 3A; H Chron, Nov 11/84, 24)
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