Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Explorer XI, launched on April 27, 1961, by a Juno II rocket, was NASA's first fully dedicated gamma-ray satellite. The satellite was built under a contract overseen by the Marshall Space Flight Center who also supplied the supporting electronic equipment. It carried a gamma-ray telescope built at MIT by W. Kraushaar and G. Clark, and was designed to detect gamma radiation above 50 MeV. During a period of just over 23 days in orbit it detected 22 true gamma-ray events as well as 22,000 events due to charged cosmic rays. The artifact in the collection is one of two backup-up satellites.

NASA transferred the object to the Museum in 1975.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed Manufacturer Boeing Aerospace Company
 Dimensions Overall: 16 3/4 × 16 1/2 in., 104.8cm (42.5 × 41.9cm, 41 1/4 in.)
Storage (Aluminum pallet and frame with fabric dust cover): 121.9 × 121.9 × 73.7cm, 57.2kg (48 × 48 × 29 in., 126lb.)
 Materials aluminum, steel, Stainless Steel, Magnesium, glass, Paint, plastic, Acrylic (Plexiglas), Adhesive, Rubber (Silicone), Copper, brass, Phenolic Resin ,Composite, Epoxy, Synthetic Fabric
Shell - aluminum alloy
Solar cells - silicon
 Inventory Number A19761110000 Credit Line Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.