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Science 29 August 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5637, p. 1167
DOI: 10.1126/science.301.5637.1167c
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ScienceScope

The last of NASA's four great space-based observatories soared into space 25 August from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The oft-delayed $1.2 billion Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will use its 85-centimeter mirror to peer at the universe in the infrared, allowing researchers to see through dust clouds and gather data on cooler objects--such as brown dwarfs and distant galaxies--not as visible to the Hubble Space Telescope (Science, 6 December 2002, p. 1870). Unlike Hubble, SIRTF will fly beyond Earth's orbit, where it cannot be serviced by astronauts, so researchers are keeping their fingers crossed that all systems will work properly. The first data from the spacecraft are slated to be released by the end of the year.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)