Shuttle retrieval of Palapa B2 and Westar VI (1984)
Two satellites lost in February 1984, paid out, then brought back to Earth by the Shuttle in November at their insurers' expense and resold.
Space insurance in 1984 was a young market, and the simultaneous loss of two satellites on a single flight nearly drained its capacity. The insurers, owners after paying the claims, attempted what no other market can: go and fetch the insured object to resell it. They paid NASA for a Shuttle mission, then had the craft refurbished by their manufacturer. The operation remained unique, because it required a crewed vehicle able to capture a satellite in low orbit, which the end of the Shuttle removed. It remains the benchmark for salvage value in space insurance.
Deployed by mission STS-41-B in February 1984, Palapa B2 and Westar VI were left in low orbit by the failure of their apogee motors, and insurers paid about 180 million dollars. On November 12, 1984, Joseph Allen and Dale Gardner of mission STS-51-A captured Palapa B2, then Westar VI; the insurers had paid NASA 5.5 million dollars, and the two satellites, refurbished by Hughes, were relaunched in 1990.
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