ROGALLO SATELLITE

Rogallo was an early American satellite containing a small classified data capsule, but after fifteen years in space, the satellite had fallen out of orbit. Early satellites were brought back to Earth with wings on them, and the Rogallo landed on the top of a mesa, just inside Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. MacGyver was sent to Afghanistan on a mission to recover the data capsule before the Soviets could retrieve it, and in order to get to the target quickly, he flew an obsolete military jet into Afghan airspace and waited until the last possible second to eject and parachute from the jet as the Soviets fired ground-to-air missiles to bring it down. MacGyver succeeded in locating the satellite and disarming the booby-trapped mechanism to recover the data capsule, but when he became trapped on top of the mesa by Soviet and Afghan forces, his only means of escape was to use ingenuity and duct tape to refashion the satellite's plastic wings into a hang glider.

Captain Osharansky, in command of the Soviet Headquarters in the area, ordered his men, including Sergeant Borsov, to find the downed plane and the pilot, and Khalil, an Afghan tribal leader who cooperated with the Soviets, ordered his men to recover the pilot, knowing that the Soviets would pay handsomely for his capture. During his flight from the mesa, MacGyver was shot in the right shoulder and hand by Afghan militia, but he was rescued by Ahmed, a young Afghan boy who brought him home to his mother, Zia, the widow of an Afghan resistance leader. Although fearful of the consequences, Zia and Ahmed nursed MacGyver back to health, even as both the Soviets and the Afghans narrowed in on his location. With no choice remaining to them, Zia and Ahmed joined MacGyver as he made his way across the Pakistani border, safely delivering the classified data capsule.

Cross Reference: Afghanistan, Ahmed, Sergeant Borsov, Khalil, Captain Osharansky, Zia

Episode Reference: To Be a Man