Midcourse Space Experiment

Midcourse Space Experiment ( MSX ) was a military satellite with the astronomical observations were also carried out in the infrared.

The satellite of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization ( BMDO ) has been developed as part of the U.S. missile defense program and served mainly to test the tracking of intercontinental ballistic missiles in their mid flight phase between launch and re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. MSX was launched on 24 April 1996 with a Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in a low, almost sun-synchronous orbit.

The SPIRIT III experiment on MSX was used during the first ten months of the mission in operation and was used for astronomical observations. It had a cooled with solid hydrogen at 11-12 Kelvin telescope of 33 cm aperture, with the observations at five wavelengths (4.3 microns, 8.28 microns, 12.13 microns, 14.65 microns and 21.3 microns ) were carried out.

Among the most important astronomical results of MSX include shots of the plane of our Milky Way and not covered by the IRAS all-sky survey areas.

MSX in the clean room during the launch preparations

Delta 7920-10 with MSX during launch preparations

Start of MSX