CXC Home | Search | Help | Image Use Policy | Latest Images | Privacy | Accessibility | Glossary | Q&A
July 19, 1999
Media Advisory: 99-142
You could read a newspaper from half a mile away or see a stop sign from 12 miles. That’s the kind of strength packed into the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope.
Its name is the Chandra X-ray observatory and it starts a five-year mission this week when the Space Shuttle’s first female commander, Eileen Collins, and her crew release the new observatory from the Shuttle’s payload bay.
Chandra is the largest and heaviest payload ever launched by the Space Shuttle. Using Chandra, scientists will learn more about black holes, study quasars at the edge of the universe, analyze comets in our solar system, and more.
Get the story on NASA’s newest great observatory from the experts at the Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Mass.
Who: Chandra Experts
When: Beginning Tuesday evening, July 20
through July 27
Time: 6 - 10 a.m.; 6 - 10 p.m. EDT
Satellite Windows: 10 minutes
Satellite Interview Information:
Robert Drake, Producer
(256) 544-4139
(256) 544-1183 (PIN 0022)
Story Information:
Tim Tyson, Media Relations
(256) 544-0034
Revised: April 05, 2019