Technicians in a clean room at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, check out the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 before the mission’s Dec. 7, 1968, launch.
Mission type
Astronomy
Operator
NASA
COSPAR ID
1968-110A
SATCAT no.
3597
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer
Grumman
Dry mass
2,012 kilograms (4,436 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date
7 December 1968, 08:40:09 (1968-12-07UTC08:40:09) UTC
Rocket
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
Launch site
Cape Canaveral LC-36B
End of mission
Disposal
Telescope issues
Deactivated
February 1973 (1973-03)[1]
Orbital parameters
Reference system
Geocentric
Regime
Low Earth
Perigee altitude
768 kilometres (477 mi)
Apogee altitude
777 kilometres (483 mi)
Inclination
35.0 degrees
Period
100.30 minutes
Epoch
6 January 1969[2]
The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO-2, nicknamed Stargazer) was the first successful space telescope (first space telescope being OAO-1, which failed to operate once in orbit), launched on December 7, 1968.[3] An Atlas-Centaur rocket launched it into a nearly circular 750-kilometre (470 mi) altitude Earth orbit.[4] Data was collected in ultraviolet on many sources including comets, planets, and galaxies.[3][5] It had two major instrument sets facing in opposite directions; the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Wisconsin Experiment Package (WEP).[5] One discovery was large halos of hydrogen gas around comets,[5] and it also observed Nova Serpentis, which was a nova discovered in 1970.[3]
^"NASA's First Stellar Observatory, OAO 2, Turns 50". NASA. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
^McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
^ abcJoseph A. Angelo (2014). Spacecraft for Astronomy. Infobase Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4381-0896-4.
^Gunter – OAO-2
^ abcOrbiting Astronomical Observatory OAO-2
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