Inventor Name
Carol Armbruster, Albert Boggess, Yoji Kondo, and George Sonneborn
Repository
Smithsonian Institution Archives
P.O. Box 37012
Capital Gallery Building, Suite 3000, MRC 507
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
202-633-5870
http://siarchives.si.edu/
Physical Description
(1) VHS tapes, 6.7 hours; (2) transcript, 185 pages
Summary
Launched in 1978 as a joint European, British, and American project, the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) geosynchronous satellite carried the first orbiting astronomical telescope. The IUE was responsible for the discovery of sulfur in the nucleus of a comet and of the hot halo of gas surrounding the Earth's galaxy. David H. DeVorkin, National Air and Space Museum, conducted videotaped interviews with a group of scientists about the origins, development, use, and administration of the IUE. Carol Armbruster, Albert Boggess, Yoji Kondo, and George Sonneborn discussed the cooperative nature of the enterprise, technical and engineering demands of the design process, and development and operation of data collection and analysis techniques. Visual documentation includes the operational facilities at the Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in Greenbelt, Maryland, during an observing session, and various components of an IUE model.