'The Rescue of Athena One' (Story Code '40024') by D.C. Fontana

As Major Kelly Wood, America's first female astronaut, pilots her space capsule through the inky blackness a sudden explosion damages the vessel and injures her colleague. Kelly manages to manoeuvre the capsule towards the orbiting Skylab space station, in the hope that its crew can send a rescue team and medical help, but the capsule’s hatchway has been jammed by the explosion, trapping the astronauts inside. As an experienced astronaut, Colonel Steve Austin is sent up in a rocket so that he can use his bionic strength to un-jam the door; however, he soon finds his strength drained by the effects of space travel and his efforts to wrench open the hatchway. With time running out, it seems that all is lost for the imprisoned astronauts…

Lee Majors (Colonel Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Farrah Fawcett (Major Kelly Wood), Paul Kent (Flight Surgeon Wolf), Dean Smith (Astronaut Osterman), Jules Bergman (Himself), Quinn Redecker (Capcom), John S. Ragin (Flight Director), Doug Collins (Retro)


Directed by Larry Doheny
Produced by Donald R. Boyle and Sam Strangis
Executive Producer Harve Bennett
Based on the novel by Martin Caldin

TX (US): 15th March 1974

Notes:
*Featuring Colonel Steve Austin and Oscar Goldman