Some space missions go precisely to plan. Others become one of the most nail-biting rescue stories NASA has ever pulled off. STS-49 was the latter. NASA's official mission archive states that the space shuttle Endeavour launched on its very first flight ever on May 7, 1992, on what became a nine-day mission. It was simple to describe, and brutally hard to do: catch a satellite stranded in the wrong orbit, attach it to a new booster stage, and send it on its way. Three days of failed capture attempts, a record-setting unscheduled spacewalk, and an ending no one could have scripted.
A satellite stuck in the wrong orbit
