SOHO's Recovery -An Unprecedented Success Story
Publication date: 01 March 1999
Authors: Vandenbussche, F.C.
Journal: ESA Bulletin
Volume: 97
Year: 1999
Copyright: ESA
The SOHO mission is a major element of the joint ESA/NASA International Solar Terrestrial Programme (ISTP). ESA was responsible for the spacecraft's procurement, integration and testing. NASA provided the launcher, launch services and ground-segment system and is responsible for in-flight operations following the launch on 2 December 1995. The SOHO mission operations are therefore conducted under a NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) contract with Allied-Signal Technology Corporation (ATSC). Following the spacecraft's in-orbit checkout and the transit from low Earth orbit to its operational halo orbit around the Lagrangian point (L1) between the Earth and the Sun, the SOHO mission was declared fully operational in April 1996. SOHO then completed its two-year primary mission and entered an extended-mission phase in May 1998. On 25 June 1998, all contact with SOHO was lost.
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