Shuttle Crew Gets a Close Look at Satellite--Too Close

Columbia’s astronauts had a brief scare Friday night when they heaved a science satellite into orbit and the 4,600-pound steel disk came alarmingly close to the space shuttle.

The close encounter occurred minutes after crewman Thomas Jones released the disk, called the Wake Shield Facility, as the shuttle soared 220 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

After firing a tiny thruster on the satellite, the five astronauts watched nervously as it moved toward them--closer and closer. The disk passed within 10 feet of the cockpit windows, much closer than the crew anticipated.

Commander Kenneth Cockrell said his heart was in his throat.

“We kept it in sight at all times . . . so we were assured of safe clearance,” he told Mission Control. “But I have to say that the clearance was somewhere 10 feet or less going over the front windows and the left part of the nose.”

The gleaming, 12-foot-diameter white disk--looking very much like a flying saucer--eventually drifted off to a safe distance to grow thin semiconductor film in the ultra-clean vacuum of space. A collision could have caused serious damage or even destroyed Columbia, even at the slow speed the satellite was moving relative to the shuttle.

“We were certainly very excited,” Mission Control told Cockrell. Translation: Very nervous.

The satellite should have come no closer than about 24 feet, said Jeff Bantle, mission operations director at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He noted that Cockrell could have quickly steered out of the way if the satellite had come any closer.

“There’s always adrenaline when two big bodies are moving close to each other,” Bantle said.

The close encounter happened because the astronauts had to wait until the satellite was stable and in the right position before they could ignite its thruster.

“I think the bottom line is, we turned on the thruster about as late as we could possibly stand it,” Cockrell said.