Discovery Completes Challenger’s Mission Satellite, Replacing One Lost In 1986 Explosion, Released

Space shuttle Discovery rocketed into orbit Thursday on a flight delayed by woodpeckers, and promptly released a $330 million satellite to replace one destroyed in the Challenger disaster.

The crew freed the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite from its tilted table six hours into the flight. The shiny, gold-colored satellite drifted off as the shuttle slowly backed away.

“Discovery, excellent job. Happy faces,” Mission Control told the crew.

An attached rocket motor fired and propelled the satellite from Discovery’s 184-mile altitude into a 22,300-mile-high orbit. There, it joins five other TDRS satellites and will serve as a spare.

The TDRS network links ground controllers with Discovery as well as other orbiting craft such as the Hubble Space Telescope.

Ohio Gov. George Voinovich wept and prayed as Discovery punched through two decks of clouds and sped out over the Atlantic Ocean. Four of the five crew members are from Ohio.

Voinovich said he couldn’t help thinking of Judith Resnik, one of seven astronauts killed when Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986.

“She was from Ohio, you know, and the TDRS they’re carrying up will replace the one she was carrying up on Challenger,” he said. “When you think of all the things that could go haywire, you don’t take it for granted.”

It took nine years to start the satellite-production line back up and build and test the craft.

The shuttle flight was delayed five weeks by woodpeckers that drilled more than 200 holes in the insulating foam of Discovery’s fuel tank in May. NASA had to return the shuttle to the hangar for repairs.