alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (04/09/84)
Astronaut George Nelson today failed to dock with and stop the spin of the Solar Max satellite. The docking failure was due to a defective mechanism that was supposed to have grabbed a pin on the satellite. Instead, Nelson just bounced off, in the process inducing more motion to the already spinning satellite. A later attempt to grab the solar panels by hand and stabilize the satellite also failed, and another attempt to use the RMS of the shuttle to grasp the satellite did not work. Monday or Tuesday, the crew will make one more attempt to grab the satellite using the arm. If they fail, the mission may be cut short by one day; if they succeed, the repairs to the satellite will be done on one EVA into the bay, not two. No further spacewalks will be planned, due to a shortage of maneuvering fuel that would be used to pick up a stranded astronaut if his backpack failed. The propellant was used to make the maneuvers necessary for the RMS grapple attempts; the shortage of propellant will not endanger the reentry of the shuttle into the atmosphere.