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Mission Milestones

View the Bar chart of Chandra mission status.

Date
Milestone


August 19, 1999
Chandra official first light image recorded by the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS).
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August 12, 1999
The Sunshade door opens allowing X-ray to enter the telescope for the first time.
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August 7, 1999
Chandra reaches its planned operating orbit.
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July 23, 1999
Shuttle Columbia launched and the Chandra X-ray Observatory successfully deployed.
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June 27, 1999
Chandra transferred into Columbia's payload bay.
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June 16, 1999
Chandra and IUS-27 booster successfully complete Payload Readiness Review.
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June 8, 1999
Launch planned for no earlier than July 20. End-to-end test on Chandra/IUS successful
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June 1, 1999
Inertial Upper Stage-27 delivered to the VPF.
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April 27, 1999
NASA decided to postpone mating Chandra with its IUS booster.
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March 17, 1999
A full state-of-health test successfully completed at KSC.
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February 4, 1999
TRW* ships NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to KSC
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February 2, 1999
NASA decides to proceed with the shipment of Chandra TRW* to KSC, on Thurs, Feb. 4, 1999
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January 20, 1999
NASA delays shipment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory from TRW* to KSC
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January 14, 1999
TRW* unveils the completed Chandra X-ray Observatory
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December 21, 1998
The Chandra X-ray Observatory to be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on or before Jan. 28
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October 13, 1998
NASA delays shipment of AXAF from TRW* to Kennedy Space Center
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July 7, 1998
AXAF successfully completes its thermal vacuum test.
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March 12, 1998
Assembly of AXAF is completed at TRW*!
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February 13, 1998
NASA plans a 3 December launch of AXAF.
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November 1997
TRW* experiences delays in assembly and testing of AXAF.
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June - October 1997
The Mirror Assembly is shipped to TRW*.
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March - May 1997
The testing of the Scientific Instruments is completed.
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December 1996 - March 1997
AXAF support team at Marshall Space Flight Center completes a series of rigorous tests of the X-ray Mirror Assembly.
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February - December 1996
The coated mirrors are transported to Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, where they are assembled.
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July 1995 - February 1996
The coating of the mirrors with iridium is successfully completed.
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December 1991 - July 1995
The grinding and polishing of the grazing-incidence mirrors are completed.
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*TRW is now part of the Northrop Grumann of Redondo Beach, CA


Chandra Tours
Follow Chandra's construction, launch and telemetry path using Google Earth.