Salvage 1 is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 series that aired for 16 episodes (of the 20 produced) on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 during 1979. The pilot

Television pilot

A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 film, Salvage, aired on January 20, 1979 to high ratings.

Noted science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 author Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

 served as the show's scientific adviser.

Pilot (Parts 1 & 2) (January 20, 1979)

Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith

Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...

) owns the Jettison Scrap and Salvage Company

Wrecking yard

A scrapyard or junkyard is the location of a dismantling business where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies...

, and is a specialist in reclaiming trash and junk in order to sell that as scrap

Scrap

Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...

. His dream is to recover equipment left on the moon during Apollo Program

Project Apollo

The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...

 missions. He invites former astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 Addison "Skip" Carmichael (Joel Higgins

Joel Higgins

Joel Franklin Higgins is an American actors and singer with a stage career spanning over 30 years.- Life and Career :...

) and NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 fuel expert Melanie "Mel" Slozar (Trish Stewart

Trish Stewart

Trish Stewart is an American television actress. She was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. She is most recognized for her regular role as 'Chris Brooks Foster' on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless...

) to assist him in this effort. He builds a spaceship dubbed Vulture completely made of reclaimed salvage and powered by a chemical called monohydrazine

Hydrazine

Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the formula N2H4. It is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odor. Hydrazine is highly toxic and dangerously unstable unless handled in solution. Approximately 260,000 tons are manufactured annually...

. The main body of Vulture is composed of a Texaco

Texaco

Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....

 gasoline Semi-trailer

Semi-trailer

A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. A large proportion of its weight is supported by a road tractor, a detachable front axle assembly known as a dolly, or the tail of another trailer...

 with cement mixer as the capsule. This is augmented with three shorter rocket boosters placed 120 degrees around the main tank. Estes Rockets

Estes Industries

Estes Industries is a company based in Penrose, Colorado, USA that designs and builds model rocket and model aircraft engines and kits. They were the best known model rocket company during the "golden age of rocketry" in the 1970s and early 1980s, competing primarily with Centuri Engineering and a...

 made a prototype of a model rocket

Model rocket

A model rocket is a small rocket that is commonly advertised as being able to be launched by anybody, to, in general, low altitudes and recovered by a variety of means....

 version of the Vulture. It was never brought to market. Broderick and his ragtag crew complete their mission and go on to further adventures in the subsequent series.

Season 1

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1	"Dark Island"	January 29, 1979
2	"Shangri-la Lil"	February 5, 1979
3	"Shelter Five"	February 12, 1979
4	"The Haunting of Manderly Mansion"	February 26, 1979
5	"The Bugatti Treasure"	March 5, 1979
6	"The Golden Orbit (Part 1)"	March 12, 1979
7	"The Golden Orbit (Part 2)"	March 19, 1979
8	"Operation Breakout"	April 2, 1979
9	"Mermadon"	April 16, 1979
10	"Up, Up and Away"	May 14, 1979
11	"Energy Solution"	May 21, 1979
12	"Confederate Gold"	May 28, 1979

Season 2

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
13	"Hard Water (Part 1)"	November 4, 1979
14	"Hard Water (Part 2)"	November 11, 1979
15	"Diamond Volcano"	November 18, 1979*
16	"Dry Spell"	November 25, 1979*
17	"Harry's Doll"	December 2, 1979*
18	"Round Up"	December 9, 1979*

* Never aired during original series run. The last four episodes aired in the early 1990s on The Nostalgia Channel, now known as the AmericanLife TV Network.