Talk:Einstein Observatory

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[edit] HEAO 2

This would normally have been the name for the #2 spacecraft in the HEAO Program series, but as far as I know was never used, the name being HEAO B before launch, and then "Einstein Observatory", probably in recognition of the outstanding improvement in performance of the focusing X-ray telescope over previous experiments.

NASA liked (& likes) to use a non-commital name prelaunch, and then give observatories more formal names once they are up and working. HEAO 1 & 3 were originally HEAO A and HEAO C before launch, which accounts for the instrument names in the program Wwheaton (talk) 04:07, 28 March 2008 (UTC)