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Space Shuttle Orbiter and Columbia by Eileen Collins of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
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Chandra X-ray Telescope
| Title |
Chandra X-ray Telescope |
| Explanation |
Wrapped in protective blankets and mounted atop an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) [ http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/ facts/ius.htm ] rocket, the Chandra X-ray Telescope [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/pub.html ] is seen in this wide-angle view [ http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/captions/1999/jul/ 99pp0851.htm ] before launch snuggled into the space shuttle Columbia's payload bay. Columbia's crew released the telescope, named in honor of the late Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950901.html ], into orbit on Friday, July 23rd, where it is now undergoing check out and activation of its scientific instruments. To help realize its enormous potential for exploration of the distant Universe [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/ ] at X-ray energies, controllers will perform a series [ http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/chandra/ major_timeline.html ] of firings in the coming days which will eventually boost the 10,000 pound telescope into a highly ecentric orbit. In fact, the final working orbit for Chandra will range from a close point of about 6,200 miles out to 87,000 miles or one third of the distance to the Moon. The elongated orbit will carry Chandra's sensitive X-ray [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/xrays.html ] detectors beyond interference caused by the Earth's radiation belts allowing Chandra [ http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/ facts/axaf.htm ] to make about 55 hours of continuous observations per orbit. The shuttle Colombia [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html ], commanded by Eileen Collins [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-93/ crew/collins.html ] is scheduled to land this evening at 11:20 pm EDT at Kennedy Space Center [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/groundtracs/index.html ]. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin (foreground) talks with STS-93 Commander Eileen Collins beside the Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia following the successful completion of her mission. Marshall Space Flight Center Director Arthur G. Stephenson (far left) looks on. Landing occurred on runway 33 with main gear touchdown at 11:20:35 p.m. EDT on July 27. The mission's primary objective was to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which will allow scientists from around the world to study some of the most distant, powerful and dynamic objects in the universe. This was the 95th flight in the Space Shuttle program and the 26th for Columbia. The landing was the 19th consecutive Shuttle landing in Florida and the 12th night landing in Shuttle program history. On this mission, Collins became the first woman to serve as a Shuttle commander |
| Release Date |
07/28/1999 |
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