June 1983:JPL space report

IRAS IN ORBIT

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was placed accurately into its 900 km orbit by a Delta 3910 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 26 January. Although the launch went without incident, it was in doubt until the last hour or sp due to very strong winds at 12,000 m. It was not until the final meteorological report was received that all was "go" for launch.

I had driven the 240 km north from JPL to Vandenberg to see the launch and looked with more than casual interest as the rocket slowly lifted from the pad in a glare of electric-white light; almost seven years of work on the IRAS project meant there was a large personal investment for me atop that Delta. The glare clearly lit up the underside of the cloud deck as the rocket rose skywards. The launch was quite visible from JPL according to observers who also saw the second stage ignite, an event denied to those of us on site because of the local clouds.

Next day I boarded a plane for England to take part in the critical first month of satellite operations. The control centre is at the Rutherford and Appleton Laboratory near Chilton, about 30 km south of Oxford. Also there is the 12 m antenna used to track the satellite and receive "data dumps" from it twice daily. The first two weeks were largely occupied with checking out, calibrating and tuning up the complex piece of cryogenic equipment circling the Earth in a near-polar orbit 14 times a day. For the first five days of the checkout the telescope was operated with a protective cover. On the evening that the cover was blown off, 31 January, most of us gathered in a room at Rutherford/Appleton to watch this critical event; a cheer went up as the TV monitor indicated that the operation had been performed successfully. Now IRAS could see the stars.