Mission Archive

NASA/DLR/SERC · 1990

Low Earth orbit

A German-led X-ray observatory, built with the United States and the United Kingdom, that made the first imaging X-ray survey of the whole sky and catalogued more than 150,000 sources.

NASA/SERC/NIVR · 1983

Low Earth orbit

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, the first telescope to survey the whole sky in infrared light, flown jointly by the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In ten months it catalogued about 350,000 sources.

NASA/ESA/SERC · 1978

High Earth orbit

The International Ultraviolet Explorer, run jointly by NASA, ESA and the United Kingdom. Planned for three years, it worked for nearly nineteen and was the first space telescope astronomers could operate in real time.