I've heard that one of the things they wanted the shuttle to do was launch, capture a spacecraft in polar orbit, and land at the launch site within a single orbit. Some say it was so they could secretly grab a Soviet satellite right out of the sky when it was out of range of Russia, but I'm not sure how you would secure something like that in the payload bay.
That's an urban legend. There were never any plans to capture a satellite in a single orbit. It was supposed to be capable of making an emergency landing after one orbit, but not while releasing or capturing a satellite. The 1950s Air Force X-20 Dyna-Soar was intended to launch a recon satellite and land in one orbit, but not recover a foreign satellite in one orbit.
"Mission 3B is designed as payload retrieval mission with both shuttle launch and orbiter landing to take place at the Western Test Range (WTR). The mission is designed for direct rendezvous with a passive satellite in a 100 NMI circular orbit with an inclination of 104 degress. Rendezvous and return to the WTR occurs one revolution after liftoff"
