Copernicus (OAO-3)

1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach

Copernicus (OAO-3)

Major ultraviolet observatory.

Era 2 of 6 · full record in the catalog

Launch
year known only: 1972
Lead / partner
United States
Target
Earth orbit
Category
Ultraviolet astronomy
Status
Success
Vehicle
unknown
Mass
unknown
Orbit / trajectory
unknown

Why it happened

Copernicus (OAO-3) flew during 1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach, as part of United States's work toward earth orbit. A sourced write-up of the context around this mission is still on the editorial queue; nothing here is invented to fill the gap.

The mission

The full narrative of this mission is pending research and writing. What is recorded so far: Major ultraviolet observatory.

Results

Major ultraviolet observatory.

Related missions

Copernicus Landsat 1 — same_target Landsat 1 Salyut 1 — same_target Salyut 1 Skylab — same_target Skylab Uhuru — same_target Uhuru

Salyut 1

Partial success

Soviet Union · 1971

Skylab

Success

United States · 1973

Uhuru

Success

United States / Italy · 1970

Sources & image credits

  • NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Advocates in Manpow, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · license: public-domain (source, checked 2026-08-24)
  • Mission record: AntarikshPedia canonical dataset (data-sources/missions_timeline.md)
  • Specifications reference: NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog