Einstein Observatory

1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach

Einstein Observatory

First fully imaging X-ray telescope.

Era 2 of 6 · full record in the catalog

Launch
year known only: 1979
Lead / partner
United States
Target
Earth orbit
Category
X-ray astronomy
Status
Success
Vehicle
Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR
Mass
unknown
Orbit / trajectory
Geocentric
Duration
4 years

Why it happened

Einstein Observatory 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: First fully imaging X-ray telescope.

Results

First fully imaging X-ray telescope.

Related missions

Einstein Obse… Bhaskara-1 — same_target Bhaskara-1 Seasat — same_target Seasat Solar Maximum Mission — same_target Solar Maximum… HEAO-1 — same_target HEAO-1

Seasat

Partial success

United States · 1978

HEAO-1

Success

United States · 1977

Sources & image credits

  • NASA, 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