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STS-41C astronauts George D. Nelson, right, and James D. van Hoften share a repair task at the captured Solar Maximum Mission Satellite (SMMS) in the aft end of the Challenger's cargo bay. The two mission specialist use the mobile foot restraint and the remote manipulator system (RMS) as a "cherry picker" device for moving about. Later, the RMS lifted the SMMS into space once more.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 84-H-168
Date: April 11, 1984
"Launched April 6, 1984, one of the goals of the STS-41C mission was to repair the damaged free-flying Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite, or Solar Max. The original plan was to make an excursion out to the SMMS and capture it for necessary repairs. Pictured is Mission Specialist George Nelson attempting to grapple the damaged satellite in a capture attempt. This attempted feat was unsuccessful. It was necessary to capture the satellite via the orbiter's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and secure it into the cargo bay in order to perform the repairs, which included replacing the altitude control system and the coronograph/polarimeter electronics box. The SMM satellite was originally launched into space via the Delta Rocket in February 1980, with the purpose of providing a means of studying solar flares during the most active part of the current sunspot cycle. Dr. Einar Tandberg-Hanssen of Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Sciences Lab was principal investigator for the Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter, one of the seven experiments of the Solar Max."
The above is my minor paraphrasing of a NASA caption associated with the widely published image of the capture attempt (linked to below). Note the substantially different orientation of Solar Max in this photograph in comparison to that image, which was taken earlier during the capture attempt. Assuming that a constant relative position & distance was maintained between Solar Max & the orbiter during this time, the substantially different orientation of the satellite must be due to the motion imparted by Nelson’s repeated unsuccessful grappling attempts.
Additional pointless musings: As Nelson is nowhere near the grapple fixture, I’m wondering if this was after he had ceased further attempts at securing the satellite. Or possibly, shortly before/after he grabbed one of the solar arrays in a last ditch attempt to dampen its rotation. Finally, note also that the high-gain antenna appears to have been retracted, into a possible stowed position.
Interesting reading:
“Precisely on time, after a 10-minute solo flight, Nelson arrived in Solar Max’s vicinity and used the MMU’s thrusters to gently match its rotation. Unfortunately, when he moved in to mate his TPAD with the satellite, it did not clamp properly into place. “We didn’t know what was wrong,” explained Hart, “but, being mechanical engineers, we said ‘If a small hammer doesn’t work, use a bigger hammer!’ So Pinky went in twice as fast the next time and he hit again and bounced right off again.” A third try, which imparted yet more force, also failed. Had the TPAD been affected by the cold of orbital darkness? Its temperature after removal from the payload bay storage locker had not been maintained, but pre-flight tests and actual flight experience on Mission 41B determined that it was capable of withstanding at least a few hours in the frigid darkness.
Low temperatures did not seem to be a contributory factor. Furthermore, when Nelson pushed the TPAD against Solar Max, its trigger activated and released a pair of jaws in an attempt to grab onto its quarry. This ruled out a malfunction in the docking hardware. However, as the first EVA continued, the crew saw another problem brewing: Nelson’s efforts had jostled Solar Max out of its previously slow spin and Crippen asked him to grab a solar panel to steady it. The gyroscopic effect of this action worsened matters, and, with his MMU’s nitrogen supply running low, Nelson returned to Challenger. Instead of revolving gently, like a top, Solar Max was now tumbling unpredictably around all three axes.
Four tries by Hart to grapple it with the RMS proved fruitless, and Crippen opted to withdraw to a distance of about 100 miles (160 km) until a new strategy could be thrashed out. “The grappling pin I had to grab was underneath one of the large solar panels, so I could only get [the arm] there under certain conditions,” recalled Hart, “and it was very hard to predict how it was doing. I got close to it and I was maybe a foot away from getting it, but I’d reach some limit on the elbow or the wrist. I couldn’t go far enough or fast enough to get it. It may be a good thing, because the satellite was tumbling so much that if I had gotten it, it may have actually broken the arm! Crippen, rightfully, said ‘King’s X. Let’s go back.’ We got the Shuttle back in position in front of the satellite and then we stabilized everything. We had fuel left, but not enough to do what we were doing anymore.”
Privately, the astronauts were convinced that they had blown it and that the mission was a failure. “I could see myself spending the next six months in Washington,” Crippen told the NASA oral historian, “explaining why we didn’t grab that satellite!
…It also became clear during the second spacewalk precisely why Nelson’s attempts to capture Solar Max had been thrice frustrated: a small grommet, just 0.8 inches (20 mm) high and 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) thick, had obstructed the full penetration of the TPAD onto the satellite’s trunnion pin. The grommet, which was installed near the pin, helped to hold part of Solar Max’s gold-colored thermal insulation blanket in place.
“What no-one noticed,” explained Hart, “is that one of the blankets had been put on with a little fiberglass standoff that the grommets would fit over. The engineering drawings didn’t specify where those standoffs could be, so when they assembled the satellite, the technicians just put one wherever the grommet was. They glued it onto the metal frame, then stuck the blanket on. That was the correct thing to do, because no-one envisioned using that pin for anything.” A use for the pin did emerge, however, a year after Solar Max’s launch, when the option of a shuttle repair was first explored in depth, “but when they were designing the TPAD,” Hart continued, “no-one noticed that there was a grommet there. When Pinky went to dock, it interfered with the docking adaptor.”
It turned out that, if Nelson had made his approach to the pin within a very narrow pitch angle “corridor,” he might have succeeded and captured Solar Max. However, during his second EVA, he took measurements of where the grommet was and the obstruction it posed, and found that it stuck out 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) too far. The TPAD, clearly, would not work. Either way, Challenger’s on-board fuel was now too low to support a rescue if Nelson’s MMU happened to fail. Instead, Crippen would fly close enough to Solar Max for Hart to grapple it with the mechanical arm.”
From/At:
www.americaspace.com/2014/04/05/fixing-solar-max-30-years...
www.americaspace.com/2014/04/06/fixing-solar-max-30-years...
Credit: AmericaSpace.com website
A Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU)-clad astronaut is depicted working on the space shuttle-berthed Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite, aka “Solar Max”, while another, also wearing his MMU, photographically documents the activity from ‘above’.
Although the MMU was used during this particular mission, STS-41C, it was only during the failed initial attempt to grapple the satellite. Other than some other brief testing (I believe) of it/them during the mission, they were not otherwise operationally employed.
In November 1984, on STS-51A, the MMUs were used in a manner more similar to this artist’s concept. During the mission, Astronauts Joseph P. Allen & Dale Gardner used them, with other specialized equipment, to retrieve two wayward communication satellites, Westar VI and Palapa B2. The mission was to be the last time the MMUs flew.
Although no signature is visible, based on the MMU-centric nature of the work & it depicting SolarMax retrieval/repair, I think this beautiful work is by Martin Marietta’s immensely talented artist, Charles O. Bennett.
Continue to Rest In Peace Good Sir:
www.celestis.com/participants-testimonials/charles-oren-b...
Credit: Celestis Memorial Spaceflights website
“Astronaut James D. van Hoften and a repaired satellite are in a wide panorama recorded on film with a Linhof camera, making its initial flight aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Dr. van Hoften is getting in his first "field" test of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) after months of training in an underwater facility and in a simulator on Earth. The Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite, revived and almost ready for release into space once more, is docked at the Flight Support System (FSS). The Remote Manipulator System (RMS) is backdropped against the blue and white Earth at frame's edge. Outside of pictures made of the Earth from astronauts on the way to the Moon, this frame showing the planet from 285 nautical miles represents the highest orbital photography in the manned space program.”
Superbly written, and unexpectedly present, associated with a near identical image, at:
images.nasa.gov/details-41c-52-2646
Associated with the same nearly identical image. With the usual abysmal/genuinely stupid write-up, at:
science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/STS41C/100...
science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/STS41C/100...
“Wide angle view of mission specialist James D. van Hoften participating in an extravehicular activity (EVA) to repair the "captured" Solar Maximum Mission Satellite (SMMS) in the aft end of the Challenger's cargo bay. Astronaut van Hoften is standing in the payload bay facing the camera. The Solar SMMS is behind him. To the right of the photo is the remote manipulator system (RMS) arm used to capture the satellite. Behind the orbiter is a view of the cloudy earth.”
Again with the same near-identical image:
Astronaut James D. van Hoften tests the manned maneuvering unit (MMU) in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger as a part of an extravehicular activity (EVA) during Flight 41-C. The Solar Maximum Mission Satellite (SMMS), repaired and ready for release into space, is docked at the flight support system (FSS) at the rear. Image ID:STS41C-52-2646”
At:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DF-SC-84-10566.JPEG
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Finally, associated with the same image, at the greedy Science Photo Library website:
“Satellite repair in space. Astronaut James van Hoften makes his way back to the airlock of Shuttle Challenger having helped repair the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite. The SMM can be seen protruding from the far end of the cargo bay. This mission, 41-C, was the first in which a satellite was successfully retrieved from orbit, repaired and then redeployed. This was needed to free a jammed communications antenna without which the satellite was useless.”
“As the U.S. CHALLENGER space shuttle nears one of many returns to the sunlit side of the Earth, Astronaut George D. Nelson exits the cargo bay and heads for the nearby SOLAR MAXIMUM MISSION SATELLITE to begin an attempt to stabilize the crippled vehicle. Nelson moves about freely with the aid of a jet-powered back-pack called the manned maneuvering unit (MMU). The protruding tool (right-center) is the Trunnion Pin Attachment Device (TPAD).”
A fantastic sequence of video stills documenting the STS 41-C mission, to include, in detail, this task, the attempt to stabilize the SMM Satellite:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27666.60
The photo looks like it was grabbed a moment after this one:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic...
Both above credit the “NASA SPACEFLIGHT” website
Well worth watching. The image seems to be at about the 5:43 mark:
vimeo.com/340220701
Credit: Vimeo/Jeff Quitney
Additional informative & pertinent discussions:
www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000162.html
www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum41/HTML/000047.html
Both above credit: collectSPACE website
7” x 10.375”. On a nice medium/heavy-weight photo paper.
A dramatic view, with the earth's illuminated horizon (sunrise I think) as backdrop, shortly before release of the on-orbit repaired Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite. The view is through one of Space Shuttle Discovery's aft payload bay windows.
“STS VISIT TO SOLAR MAXIMUM MISSION SATELLITE---An artist’s concept depicts an astronaut preparing to “dock” with the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite, using the manned maneuvering unit (MMU) backpack apparatus. His mission is to stabilize the tumbling satellite. It will be brought into the Shuttle cargo bay via the remote manipulator system (RMS) for repairs, which are necessary to maintain continuous solar observation and coverage. The satellite is the first spacecraft designed for on-orbit service by the Space Shuttle. The defective attitude control system module is replaceable with a single power tool.”
One of many amazing works by Mr. Bennett for Martin/Martin Marietta over the years:
Rich life and a good man. Rest In peace...and in space Sir:
www.celestis.com/participants-testimonials/charles-oren-b...
Surely there’s a higher resolution color version of this somewhere online besides this. I'll be damned if I can find it though:
science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/STS41C/100...
Compare/contrast to Russ Arasmith's version:
www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/russ-arasmith-shutt...
The method of capture depicted didn’t work. What happened:
er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/solmax.html
“Long range view of Astronaut George D. Nelson using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) to examine the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Satellite.”
I think the white dot might actually be the moon.
STS-41C deployment of the repaired Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite from the payload bay of the shuttle orbiter Challenger.
The first direct ascent trajectory for a space shuttle. Despite the unsuccessful attempt to secure the satellite using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), the crew was able to grapple it with the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and then replace the altitude control system and coronagraph/polarimeter electronics box inflight. The 'Extra' Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was deployed, carrying 57 experiments and left in orbit to be retrieved during a later mission. Other payloads were: IMAX camera; Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME); Cinema 360; Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSlP) experiment.
Sts-13 (41c) Onboard photo; unsuccessful attempt to capture damaged solar maximum mission satellite (Smms) By nelson.
STS-13 (41C) ONBOARD PHOTO; UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE DAMAGED SOLAR MAXIMUM MISSION SATELLITE (SMMS) BY NELSON.
