This week in 1977, the first of three spacecraft in NASA’s High Energy Astronomy Observatory program, HEAO-1, was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to survey the sky for additional X-ray and gamma-ray sources, and pinpoint their positions. The HEAO program was managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which is involved in a broad array of heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science investigations, ranging from the smallest nanosatellites and suborbital sounding rockets to management of great orbiting observatories and interplanetary spacecraft. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA