A MISHAP during the launch of the Hipparcos satellite in 1989 sent the world’s most powerful star-mapping device into a nightmare orbit, punishing its sensitive circuitry as it plunged through Earth’s radiation belts four times a day. Yet the mission team kept the satellite alive for three-and-a-half years, longer than its original design life.
Michael Perryman, the project’s chief scientist, chronicles the long road from conception to launch, including the struggle to save the mission following the accident. He describes beautifully the mission’s wealth of astronomical results, such as spotting the half-digested remains of a galaxy eaten by our own and seeing the light-bending influence of…
