"Recovery" is an episode of JAG that first aired on May 1, 1996. Directed by Joe Napolitano. Written by Jack Orman.
After a reconnaissance satellite over China fails, its replacement fails to attain orbit and an astronaut dies. Lt. Commander Rabb and Lt. j.g. Austin are sent to investigate.
Rabb immediately suspects Lt. Commander Mark Lowrey (Mark Rolston), who now gets a chance to fly a mission he might never have had otherwise. Some evidence does point to Lowrey having sabotaged his colleague's mission so that he could go instead.
But eventually Rabb realizes the real culprit for the failure is Michael Gallant (Mark L. Taylor), a civilian contractor who has been bought by the Chinese.
It might be too late, because Lowrey's up in outer space about to retrieve the satellite and Gallant has probably committed other sabotage to prevent recovery of the satellite.
Rabb urgently suggests to mission control that they tell Lowrey to move the capture bar away from the satellite and test it. Lowrey does so, causing an explosion. Lowrey's shaken but otherwise well. The explosion was meant to damage the satellite.
But now there's the problem of how to get the satellite in the shuttle without a capture bar? Rabb suggests sending some more people out, to guide the satellite with their hands.
Tropes
- Government Agency of Fiction: It's not NASA that directs the satellite operations, but the Military Space Agency (MSA).
- Friendly Interservice Rivalry between the Navy and the Air Force. One manifestation is the Insistent Terminology that the Air Force has pilots and the Navy has aviators. Also, Rabb says the space program likes naval officers because they make the best astronauts.
