The man had been injured 10 days earlier when he was hit in the head by a boom on his vessel, the Cazador . Although the blow knocked him overboard, he managed to climb back aboard and crawl into the cabin. The Coast Guard contacted and diverted a vessel to the scene, but was unable to find the vessel. The crew found the elderly man barely conscious, unable to move or speak. The first satellite was launched by the Soviet Union in 1982, followed by additional Soviet and U.S. satellites.
Today there are six operational satellites involved in the program.