As NASA planned it, Thuot was to snag the 4.5-ton satellite with a high-tech “capture bar” and haul it into Endeavour’s cargo bay, where it was to be outfitted with a new booster rocket. But the capture bar didn’t work (above left), and after repeated failures, mission control choreographed a three-man spacewalk to catch Intelsat-6 by hand. The risks were huge: by ripping a glove, an astronaut could have been killed almost instantly as his spacesuit depressurized. But Thuot, Akers and Hieb made the snatch look almost easy–and then it was one for the record books by the gang with all the right stuff. Mission commander Capt. Daniel C. Brandenstein radioed the good news back to Earth: “Houston, I think we’ve got a satellite.”
