alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (08/17/84)
Palapa B2 will be the object of the second shuttle satellite rescue attempt during the November flight of the Discovery. NASA announced yesterday that it had signed an agreement with the two insurance companies which took over ownership of the satellite upon paying $75 million to the Indonesian government to return the satellite to Earth in November. Astronaut Joseph Allen will fly a MMU to the satellite, grapple it, and hold it steady while the shuttle crew grabs it with the RMS. NASA is still talking with the insurance companies that now own Westar 6, the other ill-fated satellite of Challenger's mission earlier this year, about possibly retrieving it.