#compton observatory

I am so damn busy these days but still managed to pull these off my ass with my free time. I'm gonna introduce more spacecrafts in the future instead of what everyone's familiar with prommy

"Even great observatories need a boost from time to time - including the orbiting Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. Sparkling reflections and the bright limb of the Earth are visible in this 1991 window view of Compton's release into orbit by the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Named after the American Nobel-prize-winning physicist, Arthur Holly Compton, the Compton Observatory has spent years making spectacular discoveries while exploring the Universe at extreme gamma-ray energies. From its post over 240 miles above the Earth's surface, the 17 ton satellite still experienced enough atmospheric drag to cause its orbit to deteriorate over time. But NASA controllers had just completed a complex two month long series of firings of Compton's on-board thrusters, which had raised its orbit to an altitude of over 300 miles."

"Earlier April, 1996, NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory completed its fifth successful year in orbit, exploring the gamma ray sky. Pictured is astronaut Jay Apt perched in the shuttle payload bay below the massive observatory. Compton is the largest civilian instrument ever flown - the whole observatory is roughly the size of a school bus. Apt and colleague Jerry Ross rescued the spacecraft from an unexpected problem by successfully freeing the stuck high gain antenna in an unplanned space walk. The second of NASA's planned Great Observatories for Space Astrophysics, the first being the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory has exceeded expectations of scientific discovery. Compton continues to search the depths of the Universe for such high energy phenomena as gamma-ray bursts, blazars, and pulsars."