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Author
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Topic: What was the first telescope in space?
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Redglare
Member Posts: 12
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted 02-28-2018 09:20 AM
  
I am curious how others would answer this question: what was the first telescope in space? I read that Skylab's Apollo Telescope Mount contained the first telescopes in space. A general search online states that Hubble Telescope was the first in space or was it the UK's Ariel 1 satellite? Is the difference how we define what a telescope is? |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 02-28-2018 09:38 AM
An Earth-imaging satellite, civilian or military, could be considered as a telescope.For "traditional" telescopes, you can consult Wikipedia: List of space telescopes. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-28-2018 10:50 AM
Apollo 16’s UV camera was a telescope I think. |
Glint
Member Posts: 1040
From: New Windsor, Maryland USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 02-28-2018 10:55 AM
If you count earth-pointing telephoto lenses five-to-nine feet long, then I would argue that the first space-based telescopes were launched in the so-called Discoverer program. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1463
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 02-28-2018 02:16 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Glint:
If you count earth-pointing telephoto lenses five-to-nine feet long...
They weren't five-to-nine feet long. The width of the spacecraft was only 5 feet. If you were thinking of lengthwise, then that would be GAMBIT vs CORONA. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-28-2018 02:19 PM
Aerobee took scopes aloft in the 50s. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-28-2018 03:11 PM
Unless I am misunderstanding the spirit of the question, it would seem "telescope" in this usage is not simply a telephoto lens, but a tool for imaging the cosmos. If correct, then that would exclude reconnaissance satellites and suborbital imaging platforms. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-28-2018 06:36 PM
If the caveat is non-suborbital okay (but should have been stipulated initially). Aerobee did fly cosmos observing telescopes for spectrographic and UV data collection during the 50s. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 04-06-2018 02:00 PM
According to this early SPACE CRAFT cover produced by the inimitable Carl Swanson; the nearly one meter lens Orbiting Astronomical Observatory was the first. Launched 52 years ago, April 8th, from Cape Canaveral. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3120
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 04-11-2018 06:26 PM
Just to add to that, I have an old press cutting from 21st Dec. 1970 reporting the failed launch of Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) 3 which carried a 38-inch telescope and cost £40 million (around $100 million). The name OAO-3 was later given to the successful "Copernicus" space telescope. OAO-1 reached orbit in 1966 but its solar panels failed to deploy and the mission ended after 3 days. OAO-2 was launched successfully in Deceember, 1968 and operated until January, 1973. |
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