TDRS-1 Retirement

After 25 years of service, the first TDRS tracking and communication satellite was retired in October 2009. Launched on STS-6 Challenger, it has been at work four times longer than designed. It recovered data from the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory after its recorders failed. It was the first to monitor a space shuttle deorbit burn from over the Indian Ocean, the first to collect and beam back live data during launches from the Kennedy Space Center in the early 1990's, and was one of the few satellite communications oppportunities for researchers and explorers at high altitutde. This video shows early highlights from its mission.