50 Years Ago Nasa S Copernicus Set The Bar For Space Astronomy
At 6:28 am EDT on August 21, 1972, NASA’s Copernicus satellite, the heaviest and most complex space telescope of its time, lit up the sky as it lifted into orbit from Launch Complex 36B at what is now the Cape Canaveral Space Station, Florida. Originally known as the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) C, it became OAO 3 once in orbit in the fashion of the time. But it was also renamed to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)....