STS-49

STS-49 was the maiden flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour and a May 1992 mission to rescue the stranded Intelsat VI F-3 communications satellite. NASA lists Daniel Brandenstein as commander, Kevin Chilton as pilot, and Pierre Thuot, Kathryn Thornton, Richard Hieb, Thomas Akers, and Bruce Melnick as mission specialists. Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on May 7, 1992, and landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base on May 16 after 8 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes, and 38 seconds in orbit. The mission's central objective was to capture Intelsat VI, attach a new perigee kick motor, and release it so the satellite could reach geosynchronous orbit. After two unsuccessful EVA attempts by Thuot and Hieb using the planned capture-bar method, NASA and the crew improvised a three-person hand-capture EVA with Thuot, Hieb, and Akers while Brandenstein maneuvered Endeavour close to the satellite. The successful capture became the first and only three-person EVA in human spaceflight history. STS-49 also included a planned Assembly of Station by EVA Methods test by Thornton and Akers to evaluate tools, truss assembly, mass handling, and crew-rescue concepts for future station work. NASA records the flight as the first Shuttle mission with four EVAs, the first Shuttle mission requiring three rendezvous with an orbiting spacecraft, the first attachment of a live rocket motor to an orbiting satellite, and the first use of a Shuttle drag chute during landing.