View of the first Tethered Satellite System, (TSS-1), during deployment. The moon is at center right. TSS-1 was designed to be reeled out to 20 km from Shuttle Atlantis, (in orbit). The purpose was to investigate the possibilities of generating electricity as the conducting tether passed through earth's magnetic field. Unfortunately a fault in the tether mechanism prevented deployment further than 256 meters from the Shuttle, just over 1% of its full length. NASA claimed to have gathered much data about the handling of tethered systems. TSS-1 was carried on mission STS-46, (7/31/92-8/8/92).