Revived Satellite Certified as a Success
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A communications satellite that was “jump-started” by astronauts last summer after being written off as an $85-million failure was certified Saturday as a complete, though tardy, success.
The Navy was given control of Syncom 3 after the satellite passed a month of tests by engineers from the Navy and Hughes Communications Inc., said Hughes President Steven D. Dorfman in El Segundo.
“We are meeting all our specifications,” Dorfman said. “Six months later than originally intended, we are going into service.”
The satellite was dead from the time it was deployed from the shuttle Discovery on April 13.
On a late-summer Discovery flight, astronauts Bill Fisher and James van Hoften dragged it into the shuttle’s cargo bay. They jump-started the controls by bypassing a failed circuit.
Van Hoften launched the device on Sept. 1 by heaving it manually into orbit from the shuttle’s cargo bay. Hughes ground controllers then took over the repair job and tilted the satellite to face the sun to help warm the solid fuel.
On Oct. 27, Syncom 3’s engines were ignited to bring the craft to its proper orbit 22,300 miles above the Pacific Ocean. A month of testing ended Saturday, Dorfman said.
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