Talk:Einstein Observatory

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HEAO 2[edit]

This would normally have been the name for the #2 spacecraft in the HEAO Program series, but as far as I know was never used, the name being HEAO B before launch, and then "Einstein Observatory", probably in recognition of the outstanding improvement in performance of the focusing X-ray telescope over previous experiments.

NASA liked (& likes) to use a non-commital name prelaunch, and then give observatories more formal names once they are up and working. HEAO 1 & 3 were originally HEAO A and HEAO C before launch, which accounts for the instrument names in the program Wwheaton (talk) 04:07, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is far more important to give the initial orbital altitude than to give its inclination:

The Einstein Observatory, HEAO-2, was launched on November 13, 1978, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an Atlas-Centaur SLV-3D booster rocket into a near-circular orbit with an initial altitude slightly above 500 km. Its orbital inclination orbit was 23.5 degrees.

The orbital altitude is a strong factor in the lifetime of the satellite, whereas, the inclination for an astronomy satellit doesn't mean too much at all.74.249.82.221 (talk) 18:10, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]