January 1981
From The Space Library
“They're Redesigning the Airplane” article appears in National Geographic Magazine
NASA reported Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Oao 3 (Copernicus), the heaviest and most complex observatory ever launched by the agency and instrumental in discovery of the first black hole (Cyg X-1), had finished its career at the end of 1980 after 8.5 years of operation. Launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) August 21, 1972, with a life expectancy of 1 year, its performance was "astonishing," said GSFC engineers and scientists.
Orbiting at an altitude of 740 kilometers (460 miles), Oao 3 used its supersensitive ultraviolet telescope, largest ever put into orbit, to view the heavens "with a precision and clarity never before possible," producing spectral readings invisible to ground-based observatories because of the obscuring effects of Earth's atmosphere. The telescope was capable of pointing accuracy equivalent to seeing a volleyball from a distance of 400 miles. During its lifetime, Oao 3 served more than 160 investigators from the United States and 13 foreign countries in observing more than 450 unique objects.
Formal scientific investigations using Oao 3 ended December 31, 1980, but a series of engineering tests would continue into mid-February, when NASA would terminate contact with the spacecraft. GSFC engineers were not sure whether it would orient itself permanently toward the Sun, begin a permanent orbital tumble, or combine the two. (NASA Release 81-10; Goddard News, Jan 5/81, 1)
- 1981
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