Nov. 14, 1984: Dale Gardner stings the Westar satellite, the circular braking plate visible like a steering wheel.

*****

The chase is on toward capturing our second errand communications satellite on this, the 14th Shuttle flight.  When we went to bed aboard Discovery at 3:15 p.m. (EDT) on Nov. 13, we were trailing Westar, a twin of the Palapa satellite now locked in our payload bay, by 391 mi.  Before midnight, we receive our wakeup call.  And begin our countdown toward the second spacewalk by Joe Allen and Dale Gardner scheduled to begin today, November 14, 1984, at 6:02 a.m.  It will be Dale’s turn to ride the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and capture a satellite.

When the final rendezvous phase begins, we are 85 mi. behind Westar.  By 3:45 a.m., the distance is down to 35 mi.  In the next hours Commander Rick Hauk and Pilot Dave Walker bring Discovery toward our quarry, right on time, slowing as we approach.  Shortly after 6 a.m., Joe and Dale exit the airlock, as Rick and Dave inch closer to the stranded satellite.  At 6:27 a.m., we’re on station, sitting 35 ft. from Westar.  The spacewalkers have begun checking out the MMU.  Dale dons the backpack, and Joe checks foot restraints that will attach to the end of the robot arm.  After Westar is captured by Dale with the MMU, we’re going to skip trying to fit the A-frame grapple bar to the top of the satellite, which didn’t fit on Palapa.  We’ve developed a modified plan to hold the satellite by hand.  Instead of holding it from foot restraints mounted at the edge of the payload bay, we’ll have Joe hold it as he rides in foot restraints attached to the end of the robot arm.  That’ll give us much more margin for maneuvering.

It’s now 6:57 a.m., and we’re awaiting sunrise in 24 min.  Dale uses the time to practice test flying the backpack with the 6-ft.-long “stinger” attached to the front of his suit in the floodlights of the payload bay,.  At 7:26 a.m., he reports, “I’m heading out.”  His drum-shaped target, spinning at 2 rpm, hangs over the payload bay with the Earth stretching behind it like a soft, foggy blanket.

“Can you see the end effector on the arm?” Dave Walker, serving like an air traffic controller from the cabin, calls.  Anna Fisher, who controls the RMS system from the rear of the flight deck, has the robot arm poised above the Shuttle ready for Joe to mount when the time comes.  

“I’ve got it in view, Dave.  I’m going to fly right in between them.”  Dale flies the gap between the arm and the satellite.

“You look super . . .  You’ve got about 14 ft. to the satellite,” Dave says.

“It looks real nice — no problem,” Dale calls.

“You’re clear to dock.  Watch out for the sun.  It’s coming up toward your chest.”

Dale turns to align with the end of Westar, a slant of brilliant sunshine moves up from his feet.  And stops.  “Oh, good.  Now the Orbiter is blocking the sun.”

Joe gives a play-by-play.  “He’s doing good.  He’s lining up now.  . . .You look good to me, Dale.”

Dale smoothly inserts the stinger pole into the spend rocket nozzle, and toggles open three latches.  “Got it.”  It’s only 8 min. since he headed out.  Gardner excitedly tells Joe, “It’s just like you said!  . . .Just like you said, partner.”  As he speaks he retracts the stinger until the braking plate makes contact for a firm docking, and Dale begins turn with the satellite’s slow rotation.  “OK, we have hard dock . . .  I can feel myself spin up just like you said.”  He then uses the MMU jets to halt the spin.  “Attitude hold — mark.  There it goes.  It’s firing — boy, she stops!”

The action now switches to the robot arm under Anna’s control and Joe out in the bay, readying the foot restraints that Anna will pluck to the end of the robot arm.  Joe monitors the arm as it moves in.  “OK, there you go; there you are, Anna.  It’s captured.”  He’ll ride the arm like a utility worker on a lift.

At 7:57 a.m., Joe rises up on the end of the arm, and Dale maneuvers the satellite under MMU control into position to hand it over.  “You’re looking great,” Joe says, “I’m one foot away from the omni [antenna] now.”

“Fantastic!”

From the flight deck, we direct Joe, “Go to your right.  Off to your right very gently. . . .OK, stop.”  And Joe takes hold of the satellite at the top.  Dale detaches from the satellite and flies back into the bay, and doffs the MMU,   A half hour later, Anna has moved Joe and spacecraft into position hanging over the payload bay so that Dale can work on its base.    Dale says, “Joe, you’re as steady as a rock.”

“But of course.”

Gardner caps the rocket nozzle and by 9 a.m., begins installing the adapter that will allow Westar to be berthed in the payload bay.  He must secure the frame by nine latches.  As he works, he asks Joe, “How you holding up, up there?”

“I’m doing OK.”

“We’re not going to keep you up there much longer, I promise you.”

At 9:30 a.m., Dave on the flight deck observes, “We’re trying to keep track — you’re working so fast!”  Houston tells us, “You’ve got plenty of time.” 

Dale replies, “Yeah, we know.  It was fun today.”  We’re working about an hour ahead of the timeline.  He’s already tightened down the clamps.

“Let me go through and check every position — make sure I’ve got them all flush,” Dale says.  “There — they’re all flush.”  And he aligns the three legs of the adapter to pin the satellite to the pallet at the bottom of the payload bay.  

Dave directs, “Now we need to rotate the number-one trunnion toward the cabin.”

Dale says, “Tell me when to stop it.”

“Keep coming, Joe.  Just let it rotate.”  It’s all hands on deck for this hands-on work.

“OK, stop, Dale.  That’s where we want to keep it.”

After jockeying the fine alignment, Dale berths the satellite, locks it down.  And finally Joe is free to let go.  

Coming into communications range over Guam at 10:05 a.m, we inform Houston, “We have two satellites latched in the bay.”

“Super job, guys.”

Job done, Joe takes a photo of Dale, the two satellites in the background, holding a sign, “For Sale.”

By 11:46 a.m., the spacewalkers are entering the airlock, and a spacewalk of 5 hrs. 42 is over.  All that remains of our mission is to pack up tomorrow for landing the next morning.  As we prepare for sleep after the long day, Anna comments, “You’ve got a happy crew up here.”