HEOS, Card No 37 (RaceIntoSpace 1971)
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Card No. 37: HEOS (Highly Eccentric Orbit Satellite)
The third spacecraft built by the European Space Research Organisation, and the first deep space probe built outside America and Russia.
The 238-pound spacecraft was launched by a Delta rocket from Cape Kennedy on December 5, 1968. Its very elliptical orbit takes it as far as 138,749 miles from the Earth, and as near as 263 miles.
HEOS was designed is investigate interplanetary space during the Sun's period of maximum activity, which occurs every eleven years.
