Shuttle Endeavour Joined NASA’s Fleet with ‘Spectacular’ First Flight

By Bob Granath

NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour first arrived at her home spaceport, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, on May 7, 1991. Following exactly one year of completing assembly, rigorous tests and processing, the newest orbiter “set sail”into the skies over the Atlantic Ocean. The maiden voyage marked one of the most dramatic examples of the value of humans in spaceflight.

The shuttle Endeavour was the most advanced spacecraft ever built, containing technology setting a standard for the time. Its first mission, STS-49, was to rendezvous with and rescue a satellite stranded in a useless orbit. In doing so, the flight further demonstrated the extensive capabilities of the world’s first fleet of reusable spacecraft.

The marooned Intelsat VI lifted off atop a Commercial Titan III rocket on March 14, 1990 from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The plan was to place the satellite into a geosynchronous orbit. But, the upper stage failed to separate from the Titan’s second stage. Consequently, it was unable to fire, leaving Intelsat VI in low Earth orbit.

Intelsat Corp. commissioned NASA to launch a replacement perigee motor on the STS-49 mission. The company is a communications satellite services provider based in Luxembourg. After capturing the satellite, the shuttle crew would attach a new upper stage to raise the satellite to the necessary altitude.

A Bold Mission

Endeavour’s first flight required all the flying skills of STS-49 Commander Dan Brandenstein and Pilot Kevin Chilton, completing three rendezvous with the stranded Intelsat VI satellite. The three attempts were necessary, as the seven-person crew dealt with the challenges involved in capturing a floating spacecraft.

Mission Specialists Pierre Thuot and Rick Hieb were to attach a capture bar to the bottom of the errant satellite. Fellow Mission Specialist Bruce Melnick, working inside the shuttle, would use the shuttle’s robotic Remote Manipulator System arm to place the satellite on the new upper stage.

On the first attempt to retrieve the 9,200-pound satellite on May 10, 1992, Thuot and Hieb found that the Intelsat floated away or began tumbling as they tried to attach the capture bar.

“Everything had gone just great,” Melnick said. “Then Pierre touched Intelsat with the (capture) bar and the satellite just floated away. I had this terrible sinking feeling of, ‘Is that all there is?’”

Another attempt the next day ended with similar frustrations, so the crew backed off to rethink the problem.

“The preliminary plan for a third attempt called up by Mission Control (at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston) was for us to try a third (and last) time after a day off to regroup,” Melnick said.

“We were on the (shuttle’s) mid-deck getting ready for our sleep period,” he said, “but ‘Chili’ (Chilton) was up on the flight deck looking for a whole new approach.”

“Chili was discussing his ideas with Dan and was joined later by Rick,” Melnick said. “I was hanging in my sleeping bag, not able to fall asleep, and my curiosity about what was going on up on the flight deck got the best of me, so I floated up to check it out.”

An Unprecedented Proposal

Melnick pointed out that during another spacewalk planned for later in the flight, Mission Specialists Tom Akers and Kathy Thornton were to perform tasks similar to those needed to construct the planned space station.

“They had been looking for ways to use some of the space station assembly hardware in helping us capture Intelsat,” Melnick said. “But every way we looked at it, two people just couldn’t do it.”

Melnick then made an unprecedented proposal.

“So, I said, ‘Why don’t we send three people out?’” he said. “Every way we thought it through, it worked.”

There had never been a three-person spacewalk, but on the third try on May 13, 1992, Akers joined Thuot and Hieb standing in the cargo bay. Brandenstein and Chilton carefully maneuvered Endeavour and the three spacewalkers directly under the slowly rotating Intelsat.

The trio then physically grasped the bottom edge of the huge satellite with their gloved hands.

“Houston, I think we’ve got a satellite,” Brandenstein said.

As Akers and Hieb held tightly, Thuot attached the capture bar. With the bar in place, Melnick then used the shuttle’s robot arm to install Intelsat atop its payload kick motor. By comparison, Melnick noted that attaching the satellite to the payload kick motor was a “snap.”

About five hours after the spacewalkers first grasped the satellite, Thornton deployed Intelsat. The next day the kick motor fired the satellite to its proper geostationary orbital altitude 22,243 miles above the Earth. The satellite operated for 23 years and could simultaneously relay an estimated 120,000 telephone calls.

The crew then turned their attention to practice for construction of the planned space station, a permanent outpost in outer space.

During a seven and a half hour spacewalk, Thornton and Akers evaluated procedures, tools and equipment called “ASEM” for Assembly of Station by Extravehicular activity (spacewalking) Methods. Planning for construction of the orbiting laboratory called for extensive use of spacewalks to complete assembly. Such rehearsals helped engineers design the future station.

Launching the Maiden Voyage

Commenting after Endeavour’s early evening liftoff, NASA Launch Director Bob Sieck, who also was deputy director of Space Shuttle Management and Operations, noted that there was an excited team at Kennedy.

“Every technician, inspector, engineer and support person spent a great deal of time getting ready (for the first Endeavour launch),” he said. “Tonight we did what we like to do best, and that’s put a great vehicle on orbit.”

Members of the NASA/Lockheed Shuttle Processing Team were among those who shared in the achievement of the Endeavour’s launch. They successfully completed the rigorous first processing flow for the new orbiter. Lockheed Space Operations Co. (LSOC) was NASA’s Shuttle Processing Contractor (SPC) at the Florida spaceport. Processing enhancements developed by the team brought many new high-tech procedures to bear.

“Every person who works on the Shuttle Processing Team can take a great deal of pride in the first voyage of the orbiter Endeavour,” said LSOC President Gerry Oppliger after the launch. “During the past year, our SPC Team checked this orbiter out from stem to stern to insure its launch readiness and flight worthiness. This is truly an historic event!”

Many systems onboard Endeavour had design changes or updates from earlier equipment to take advantage of technological advances and continued improvements to the Space Shuttle. The upgrades included several improved or redesigned avionics systems, and installation of a drag chute as part of a series of landing aids. Other modifications paved the way for extending Shuttle flights to last as long as three weeks.

Thousands of well-wishers were on hand to cheer the Endeavour’s first lift-off. Among them were students who won NASA’s national competition to name the orbiter. They represented Senatobia Middle School in Senatobia, Mississippi, and Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, Georgia.

The students suggested naming the shuttle after Endeavour, the sailing vessel British Capt. James Cook commanded on his first scientific expedition to the South Pacific. Just as Cook engaged in unprecedented feats of exploration during his voyage, on shuttle Endeavour’s maiden flight, Capt. Dan Brandenstein and his crew expanded the horizons of space operations with unprecedented achievements.

On the afternoon of May 16, twin sonic booms over California high desert heralded the return of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

As thousands of on-lookers gathered, the spacecraft glided to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base. When Endeavour touched down, for the first time on a shuttle mission, a red, white and blue parachute blossomed to slow the vehicle, relieving stress on the brakes and completing its eight-day, 21-hour flight.

”Wheels stop, Houston,” said Brandenstein to Mission Control.

“Congratulations on a spectacular and historic flight,” responded fellow astronaut Jim Halsell, serving as spacecraft communicator.

Following the STS-49 flight, Brandenstein summed up his emotions.

“While it was going on, it was nerve-wracking,” he said. “Once it was all over, it was an exciting mission.”

STS-49 Crew of Endeavour’s First Flight

The STS-49 crew pose near the Endeavour after landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California concluding the maiden voyage of NASA’s newest Space Shuttle orbiter on May 16, 1992. From the left are: Rick Hieb, Kevin Chilton, Dan Brandenstein, Tom Akers, Pierre Thuot, Kathy Thornton and Bruce Melnick. Photo credit: NASA

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