Galaxy Evolution Explorer

Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) operated for a decade in which the venerable space telescope used its ultraviolet vision to study hundreds of millions of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic time. "GALEX is a remarkable accomplishment," said Jeff Hayes, NASA's GALEX program executive in Washington. "This small Explorer mission has mapped and studied galaxies in the ultraviolet, light we cannot see with our own eyes, across most of the sky." Galex was decommissioned on June 28, 2013.

银河演化的探索者（GALEX）在太空中运行了十年，这台 venerable 的望远镜利用其紫外视觉，研究了跨越100亿年宇宙时间的数以百万计的星系。"GALEX 是一项非凡的成就，"华盛顿的NASA GALEX项目负责人杰夫·哈伊思说。"这个小型的探索者任务已经绘制并研究了大部分天空中的星系，这些光是我们无法用肉眼看到的紫外光。"GALEX于2013年6月28日被退役。

GALEX was launched using a Pegasus rocket which itself rode aloft on an L-1011 jumbo jet named Stargazer. Pegasus rockets are very small and can carry only a small spacecraft of mass less than 450 kilograms (1000 pounds weight). GALEX had a mass of only 280 kilograms (617 pounds). Stargazer takes the Pegasus up to about 12 kilometers (40,000 feet), about its maximum altitude. When released, Pegasus falls freely for a few seconds, waiting for the plane to get out of the way. Then Pegasus fires its first stage engine and heads for space, ferrying the spacecraft the rest of the way to Earth orbit. Once separated from the Stargazer, it took Pegasus only about 10 more minutes to boost GALEX all the way to orbit.

GALEX 是通过佩加塞斯火箭发射的，而该火箭本身又搭乘了一架名为Stargazer的大型空中客车飞机。佩加塞斯火箭体积非常小，只能携带质量小于450千克（1000磅重量）的小型航天器。GALEX 的质量仅为280千克（617磅）。Stargazer将佩加塞斯火箭带到约12公里（40,000英尺）的高度，大约是其最大高度。当释放后，佩加塞斯自由下落几秒钟，等待飞机离开。然后佩加塞斯点火第一级发动机，飞向太空，将航天器送入地球轨道。一旦与Stargazer分离，佩加塞斯仅用了约10分钟便将GALEX送入轨道。