NASA Selects New Name And Sets New Launch Date
For Advanced Space X-Ray Telescope
NASA today set a new launch date for the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics
Facility, and announced that it will be renamed the Chandra X-ray
Observatory in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel Laureate
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy
Space Center, Fla., on or before January 28 and launched no earlier
than April 8, 1999. The launch date will be subject to the actual shipping
date and the results of a mid-February independent review of the
progress towards preparing the operations center in Cambridge, Mass.,
for launch.
Chandra will be carried to space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia on
mission STS-93, commanded by astronaut Eileen Collins. The shipment
of the spacecraft was delayed in mid-October so the prime contractor,
TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif., could
complete testing on flight software.
"Chandra," a shortened version of Chandrasekhar's name, which he
preferred among friends and colleagues, was chosen in a contest to
rename the X-ray telescope. "Chandra" also means "Moon" or
"luminous" in Sanskrit. The winners are a high school student in Laclede,
Idaho, and a teacher in Camarillo, Calif.
"Chandrasekhar made fundamental contributions to the theory of black
holes and other phenomena that the Chandra X-ray Observatory will
study. His life and work exemplify the excellence that we can hope to
achieve with this great observatory," said NASA Administrator Daniel
Goldin.
"Chandra probably thought longer and deeper about our universe than
anyone since Einstein," said Martin Rees, Great Britain's Astronomer
Royal.
Chandrasekhar, widely regarded as one of the foremost astrophysicists
of the 20th century, won the Nobel Prize in 1983 for his theoretical
studies of physical processes important to the structure and evolution of
stars. He and his wife emigrated from India to the U.S. in 1935. He
served on the faculty of the University of Chicago until his death in 1995.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory will help astronomers world-wide better
understand the structure and evolution of the universe by studying
powerful sources of x-rays such as exploding stars, matter falling into
black holes and other exotic celestial objects. X-ray astronomy can only
be done from space because Earth's atmosphere blocks x-rays from
reaching the surface. Chandra will provide images that are fifty times
more detailed than previous x-ray missions. At more than 45 feet in
length and weighing more than five tons, it will be one of the largest
objects ever placed in Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle.
Tyrel Johnson, a student at Priest River Lamanna High School in Priest
River, Idaho, and Jatila van der Veen, a physics and astronomy teacher
at Adolfo Camarillo High School, in Camarillo, Calif., submitted the
winning name and essays. They will receive a trip to the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida to view the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a
prize donated by TRW. In all, 59 people submitted the name "Chandra."
Altogether, the contest drew more than 6,000 entries from all 50 states
and 61 countries. The seven members of the selection committee
included a top aerospace executive, journalists, scientists and a
university professor.
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra
X-ray Observatory program for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)
controls science and flight operations of the observatory for NASA from
Cambridge, Mass.
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Note to Editors / News Directors: Interviews, photos and video
supporting this release are available to media representatives by
contacting Dave Drachlis of the Marshall Media Relations Office at (256)
544-0034. For an electronic version of this release, digital images or
more information, visit Marshall's News Center on the Web at:
msfc.nasa.gov
xrtpub.harvard.edu
For information about S. Chandrasekhar, or comments from his Chicago
colleagues, including those who will use the Chandra X-ray Observatory,
contact Steve Koppes, University of Chicago, 773/702-8366, or via
email at: s-koppes@uchicago.edu
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