ISEE-3

A team of volunteer space cowboys may have to say goodbye to ISEE-3 and to their dream of reviving for a final mission the creaky, 36-year-old hardware. Failed tests Wednesday suggest a fuel problem.

So far, so good. ISEE-3, the versatile 1978 space probe that took a detour to greet a comet in the 1980s, is now on track to get close to the moon, scientists say, though course fixes can be tricky.

ISEE-3, launched in 1978 to study solar wind, was "borrowed" for a comet mission a few years later and virtually lost. A group of space enthusiasts say they've managed to re-establish contact.

Keith Cowing discusses his campaign to save an old '70s NASA spacecraft from becoming space junk. Cowing and his colleagues are turning to crowdfunding to wake up ISEE-3/ICE and put it to good use.

In the 1980s, NASA engineer Robert Farquhar came up with a sly plan to divert the ISEE-3 satellite from its original path to visit a comet instead. Now Farquhar has another big plan for his "baby."