Nov 18 1989
From The Space Library
A NASA Delta launch vehicle was successfully launched on this date from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying the $160 million Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite into a 570-mile polar orbit. Three instruments aboard COBE would record the background radiation left over from the "Big Bang" in unprecedented detail, allowing refinement of theories on the formation of galaxies and galactic clusters in the early universe. The Delta was the last launch vehicle in NASA's inventory. Hereafter all future NASA untended launches would occur on commercial or military boosters. (NASA Release N89-74; NASA Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Press Kit Release 89-172; SSR 1989 A-D; AP, Nov 18/89; UPI, Nov 18/89; LA Times, Nov 18/89; P Inq, Nov 19/89; C Trib, Nov 19/89; CSM, Nov 20/89)
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