Space Shuttle Projects

STS-49, the first flight of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour, lifted off from launch pad 39B on May 7, 1992 at 6:40 pm CDT. The STS-49 mission was the first U.S. orbital flight to feature 4 extravehicular activities (EVAs), and the first flight to involve 3 crew members working simultaneously outside of the spacecraft. The primary objective was the capture and redeployment of the INTELSAT VI (F-3), a communication satellite for the International Telecommunication Satellite organization, which was stranded in an unusable orbit since its launch aboard the Titan rocket in March 1990. A view through Endeavour’s busy airlock reveals astronauts Thomas Akers and Kathryn Thornton.