This paperweight is a piece of memorabilia given to the Space Astronomy Team that worked on Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-2. The OAO project launched four separate astronomical instruments into Earth orbit between 1966 and 1972. Two of the spacecraft, including OAO-2, succeeded in achieving stable orbits and taking observations. Grumman manufactured the spacecraft.
This paperweight was owned by F. Peter Simmons, an aerospace engineer who studied at the George Washington University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Simmons worked as Director of Space Astronomy at Grumman Aerospace Corporation.
Simmons gave the souvenir to the Museum when he donated his papers to the Museum's Archives in 2005.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.