M3+-+7

The Hubble Space Telescope was first scheduled for launch in 1986. But after the loss of the shuttle Challenger in late January, the launch was delayed four years. In April 1990, the Hubble telescope was sent into orbit aboard the shuttle Discovery. the crew aboard the shuttle took pictures of the deployment of hubble. The telescope measures 13.1 m (43.5 ft) in length, 4.27 m (14.0 ft) in diameter, and weighs 11,000 kg (25,500 lb). hubble was launched so that we could expand our knowlege of our universe and get pictures of things we didnt have pictures of before. || NASA Current || Explorer 1 was designed and built by the [|Jet Propulsion Laboratory] (JPL), || JPL Past || NASAs newest space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, will allow scientists from around the world to obtain unprecedented X-ray images and spectra of violent, high-temperature events and objects to help us better understand the structure and evolution of our universe. It will also serve as a unique tool to study detailed physics in a unique laboratory -- the universe itself one that cannot be replicated here on Earth. Managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., Chandra is a sophisticated, state-of-the-art instrument that represents a tremendous technological advance in X-ray astronomy || NASA Current ||
 * Category 7 – Space Telescopes **
 * Hubble
 * Explorer 1
 * XMM – Newton || NASA Current ||
 * Spitzer Space Telescope || JPL Current ||
 * Chandra || [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/10.gif width="45" height="45" caption="10"]] || Chandra flies 200 times higher than Hubble - more than 1/3 of the way to the moon! ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/9.gif width="45" height="45" caption="9"]] || Chandra can observe X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes light five million years to go from one side to the other! ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/8.gif width="45" height="45" caption="8"]] || During maneuvers from one target to the next, Chandra slews more slowly than the minute hand on a clock . ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/7.gif width="45" height="45" caption="7"]] || At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched! ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/6.gif width="45" height="45" caption="6"]] || If Colorado were as smooth as Chandra's mirrors, Pikes Peak would be less than one inch tall! ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/5.gif width="45" height="45" caption="5"]] || Chandra's resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read a stop sign at a distance of twelve miles . ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/4.gif width="45" height="45" caption="4"]] || The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer . ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/3.gif width="45" height="45" caption="3"]] || The light from some of the quasars observed by Chandra will have been traveling through space for ten billion years . ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/2.gif width="45" height="45" caption="2"]] || STS-93, the space mission that deployed Chandra, was the first NASA shuttle mission commanded by a woman . ||
 * [[image:http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/about/top10/1.gif width="45" height="45" caption="1"]] || Chandra can observe X-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole !!! ||
 * Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE)

The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) is a satellite that observes the fast-moving, high-energy worlds of black holes, neutron stars, X-ray pulsars and bursts of X-rays that light up the sky and then disappear forever. RXTE was launched from [|Cape Canaveral] on 30 December 1995 on a [|Delta] rocket, has an [|International Designator] of [|1995-074A] and a mass of 3200 kg. For RXTE, the trick to observing these kinds of objects is all in the timing -- an ability to observe changes in X-ray brightness that occur in a mere thousandths of a second, or over several years || NASA Current || RIGHT-CLICK on these links to "Open in a new window"
 * INTEGRAL || NASA Current ||

JPL PAST Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past_missions.cfm JPL CURRENT Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm NASA CURRENT Missions http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html