SOHO Celebrates 15 Years (December 2, 2010)

Congratulations are in order for SOHO! It launched on Dec. 2, 1995 and is still going strong, even if two of its instruments have been superseded by ones on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Not too many spacecraft achieve this remarkable record of longevity. And its contributions to the field of heliophysics cannot be exaggerated. Our admiration goes to the scientists who conceived, built, and operated the instruments, as well as those who've analyzed the data over the last fifteen years; the engineers, who planned and built this sturdy spacecraft and helped construct and test its instruments; and the mission operations team who have been controlling it all these years.

To get a fuller perspective based on interviews with SOHO staff, click on this link to read an article about SOHO's anniversary written by Karen Fox, a Goddard Space Flight Center science writer.