International Ultraviolet Explorer

NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the United Kingdom worked together on the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) which was launched on July 26, 1978. The satellite was originally expected to have only a three- to five-year lifetime, but it was successfully used to study the universe in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for more than 17 years. It was shut down on September 30, 1996.

IUE produced more published scientific papers than any other satellite. It provided information about physical conditions in the central regions of distant galaxies that may contain black holes. It also provided scientists with more knowledge of the physical conditions in very hot stars, the effect of solar winds on the atmospheres of the planets in our solar system and the loss of mass from stars when stellar winds and flares occur.

All spacecraft images courtesy NASA
© The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, 1999