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Post Info TOPIC: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
Blobrana


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RE: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
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After one of its 3 gyroscopes failed in Dec 1999, the observatory was deliberately de-orbited. At the time, the observatory was still operational, however the failure of another gyroscope would have made de-orbiting much more difficult and dangerous. With some controversy, NASA decided in the interest of public safety that a controlled crash was preferable to letting the craft come down on its own at random. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, it was not designed for on-orbit repair and refurbishment. It entered the Earth's atmosphere on 4 June 2000, with the debris that did not burn up falling harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean. This de-orbit was NASA's first intentional controlled de-orbit of a satellite.
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Blobrana


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The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was the second of the NASA "Great Observatories" to be launched to space, following the Hubble Space Telescope. CGRO was named after Dr. Arthur Holly Compton (Washington University in St. Louis), Nobel prize winner, for work involved with gamma ray physics.
Following 14 years of effort, the observatory was launched on the Space Shuttle Atlantis, mission STS-37, on 5 April 1991 and operated until its deorbit on 4 June 2000.
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