Astronauts Perfectly Deploy X-Ray Telescope

Space shuttle Columbia’s astronauts flawlessly released the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope into orbit Friday on the first U.S. spaceflight commanded by a woman.

Air Force Col. Eileen Collins announced the news seven hours into the shuttle journey: “Chandra’s on its way to open the eyes of X-ray astronomy to the world.”

Unlike the shuttle launch, which was marred by a short circuit and a premature engine cutoff, the release of the $1.5-billion Chandra X-Ray Observatory went smoothly.

The gold- and silver-colored 45-foot telescope gleamed as it drifted off into the sunset on a five-year voyage to search for signs of black holes and dark matter, and to survey galaxies, quasars and erupting stars.

“There is nothing as beautiful as Chandra sailing off on its way to work,” observed astronaut Cady Coleman, who flipped the ejection switch.

An hour later, a rocket motor propelled the telescope into a deliberately lopsided orbit that will eventually have a high point of 87,000 miles, or one-third of the way to the moon. It will take 10 days for the telescope to reach its intended orbit.

The five astronauts cheered when notified the motor had worked; a similar motor malfunctioned on a military satellite in April, and everyone was anxious even though Chandra’s motor had been altered and triple-checked.

The first images are expected in three to four weeks.

Collins’ achievement as the first woman to command a U.S. spaceflight since the program began in 1961 was postponed twice this week, first by faulty hydrogen measurements, then by lightning. The 42-year-old former test pilot flew twice before as a shuttle co-pilot.

Chandra should have flown last August but was stalled by technical problems. Scientists were nervous as the telescope’s systems clicked on one by one.