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

SUVO (Space Ultraviolet Optical Telescope)
A proposed follow-on mission to the NGST (Next Generation
Space Telescope) that would enable the ultraviolet
light from faint remote cosmic sources to be captured
and analyzed in unprecedented detail. The information it
provided would allow astronomers to trace galaxy evolution
back to the initial era of star formation, to gain new
insight into supermassive black holes, and to study metal
element production in the present epoch. SUVO has
been identified in NASA’s Office of Space Science Strategic
Plan as a potential mission beyond 2007 but remains
in the early concept definition phase.
Svobodny Cosmodrome
A former Russian strategic missile base, 120 km north of
Blagoveshensk, that has been converted to a launch site
SWAS (Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite) 425
Surveyor Charles Conrad, Apollo 12 commander, examines the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. The Lunar Module Intrepid is in the right
background. NASA
for the Strela and Start-1 space launch vehicles. Further
developments may eventually enable the launch of larger
vehicles, including the Angara and Proton. Because of its
location at a lower latitude than Plesetsk Cosmodrome,
the only other spaceport on Russian soil, Svobodny is
capable of launching vehicles into orbit with a payload
20% to 25% higher than this other base.
SWAS (Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite)
A NASA satellite equipped with a 0.6-m telescope, for
making observations in the 490 to 550 GHz submillimeter
range, and an acousto-optical spectrometer. SWAS
was used to study the cooling of molecular cloud cores—
the sites of star formation in the Galaxy—by measuring
spectral lines of molecular oxygen and water. It was the
fourth SMEX (Small Explorer) spacecraft.