Space: A Hot-Wiring Job in Orbit

As one of the shuttle Discovery's television cameras recorded the dramatic moment, a 7 1/2-ft. antenna folded against the topside of the LEASAT 3 communications satellite suddenly began to move. "Here she comes," exulted William Fisher to his space-walking companion, James van Hoften, "looking good, buddy." As the antenna reached its final upright position, Fisher could not contain himself. "Allll riiight!" he shouted.

After circling lifelessly in a low-earth orbit ever since its launch during a Discovery mission last April, the $85 million satellite had finally stirred, apparently revived by the astronauts' daring rescue operation. LEASAT last week was responding to commands from ground controllers, raising hopes that it could be lofted next month into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the earth to take its place in a Navy communications network.

The capture, repair and redeployment of LEASAT 3 was the highlight of the seven-day flight of Discovery, which ended in triumph last week after a halting, tension-filled start. Proclaimed NASA Official Jesse Moore, after the five-man shuttle crew made a predawn landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California: "It was a beautiful mission from the outset." Well, not exactly. Discovery's launch had been postponed twice at the last minute, first by bad weather, then by a faulty backup computer. The third try seemed doomed to failure too when the storm system that later spawned Hurricane Elena darkened the sky and began pelting Cape Canaveral with rain shortly before launch time. But NASA officials were determined to make this one good. Stretching the agency's own rules, which forbid blast-offs in the rain or through clouds that could generate lightning, they spotted a thinned-out area of clouds overhead and ordered a launch. As Discovery burned its way into the mist, Commander Joe Engle laconically described his surroundings: "That's a black cloud."

Once safely in a 219-mile-high orbit, Discovery's crew members set about inspecting the condition of its cargo, three communications satellites, and promptly ran into trouble. As they were attempting to temporarily open the sunshield on AUSSAT, an Australian satellite, the shield snagged on AUSSAT's antenna and stuck. Although the astronauts managed to nudge the sunshield completely open with Discovery's 50-ft. robot arm, NASA decided it was too risky to close the screen again; if it could not be reopened, the satellite would be useless in orbit.

The astronauts were immediately faced with another dilemma. With its screen open, AUSSAT, which was scheduled to be deployed the next day, would probably be disabled by solar radiation while it sat unprotected in Discovery's open payload bay. The solution: AUSSAT was launched only 6 1/2 hours later, shortly before ASC1, a commercial satellite, was successfully deployed as planned, both on the first day in orbit. LEASAT 4, another orbiting link in the Navy's communications system, followed on schedule two days later.