U.S. Space & Rocket Center Showcasing Astro Restoration Project

Two pieces of space history will be reuniting this week as part of an ongoing restoration project at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Earlier this morning, the Space & Rocket Center held a news conference showcasing the volunteer-led Astro Restoration Project, which involved the restoration of hardware flown on the Space Shuttle as part of the Astro-1 and Astro-2 missions in the 1990s. 

The Astro Restoration Project began with a group of engineers rescuing Astro spaceflight hardware from a scrapyard and has since grown to include dozens of former Spacelab personnel who worked on the original Astro missions at Marshall Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Teledyne Brown Engineering. 

Following over a year of restoration work, the Astro cruciform is now ready to be reunited with the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) telescope. Later in 2022, the other telescopes, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) and Goddard Space Center’s Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) will be mounted on the cruciform. 

Over 120 scientific papers were written from the Astro-1 observations, and over 150 technical papers were published in astronomy journals from data gathered during the Astro-2 mission. The telescopes gathered unique information about hot stars, remnants of supernovas, nebulae, and interstellar dust and gas in the Milky Way galaxy. In addition, the telescopes were able to observe stars in other galaxies. 

The Astro Restoration Project continues to seek Spacelab veterans to work as volunteers. Tasks include mechanical restoration, electrical avionics restoration, design and fabrication of replacement hardware, and public relations and outreach. 

For more information on the Astro Restoration Project, visit astrorestorationproject.org.