Imagine the Universe!

Spacelab 1


artist concept of Spacelab


* Mission Overview

The first Spacelab mission, in orbit in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle (STS-9) from 28 November-8 December 1983, carried a multi-disciplinary payload intended to demonstrate that good science could be done on short shuttle flights.

* Instrumentation

An X-ray spectrometer, measuring 2-30 keV photons (although 2-80 keV was possible), was on the pallet. The primary science objective was to study detailed spectral features in cosmic sources and their temporal changes. The instrument was a gas scintillation proportional counter (GSPC) with ~ 180 cm2 area and energy resolution of 9% at 7 keV. The detector was collimated to a 4.5 deg (FWHM) field of view. There were 512 energy channels.

* Science

Data were accumulated for all intended targets. These included: Cyg X-2, 4U1636-53, Her X-1, Coma, Cyg X-3, Perseus, Cyg X-1, Cas A, Crab, Cen X-3, Cen X-2, and Vela X-1.


[Gallery] (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/images/spacelab_images.html) [Publications] (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/biblio/spacelab_biblio.html)
Imagine the Universe is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Nicholas White (Director), within the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Imagine Team
Project Leader: Dr. Jim Lochner
All material on this site has been created and updated between 1997-2004.

CD Table of Contents