Apr 28 2003
From The Space Library
In its first launch since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February, NASA launched its Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) research satellite aboard a Pegasus XL rocket released from an L-101 1 cargo plane that had flown out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. GALEX carried a telescope measuring 19.7 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter, designed to provide a wide-angle view of the ultraviolet light that distant galaxies emit. NASA had planned the mission, which would survey the light emitted by a million galaxies over 28 months, to learn more about galaxies dominated by hot, short-lived stars that give off a great deal of energy as ultraviolet light. The mission cost US$103.7 million. (Space warn Bulletin, no. 594; Associated Press, “NASA in 1st Launch Since Columbia Breakup,” 28 April 2003.
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