The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

Snark
An intercontinental subsonic cruise missile built for the
U.S. Air Force by Northrop. Its first three test flights were
from Cape Canaveral in 1956–1957.
SNOE (Student Nitric Oxide Explorer)
A small satellite built by a team at the University of Colorado
to measure how the density of nitric oxide in the
atmosphere varies with altitude. SNOE was the first satellite
in the STEDI (Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative)
program.
Launch
Date: February 26, 1998
Vehicle: Pegasus XL
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base
Orbit: 529 × 581 km × 97.7°
Society for Space Travel
See Verein f ür Raumschiffahrt.
SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) 383
SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy)
A Boeing 747-SP aircraft modified to accommodate a
2.5-m reflecting telescope. SOFIA, a joint project of
NASA and DLR (the German center for aerospace
research), will be the largest airborne telescope in the
world, capable of observations that are impossible for
even the largest and highest of ground-based telescopes.
It is being developed and operated for NASA by a team
of industry experts led by the Universities Space
Research Association, will be based at Moffett Federal
Airfield, and is expected to begin flying in 2004. SOFIA
forms part of the Origins Program.
soft landing
Landing on a planetary body at a slow speed to avoid
destruction of or damage to the landing vehicle.
SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory)
A joint ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA mission
to investigate the dynamics of the Sun. SOHO was
the first spacecraft to be placed in a halo orbit—in this
SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory) SOHO ready to
be placed within its protective
fairing before transfer to the
launch pad. NASA