Senator Barbara A. Mikulski

Kepler's data is archived at MAST, formerly known as the Multimission Archive at STSci, is now the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. It was rededicated in honor of Senator Mikulski, the long-time supporter of space exploration April 12.

See

• NASA Release 12-101
• News Release STScI-2012-17
• Video of dedication event

Excerpt: In addition, an exploding star that the Hubble Space Telescope spotted on Jan. 25, 2012, has been named Supernova Mikulski by Nobel Laureate Adam Riess and the supernova search team with which he is currently working. The supernova, which lies 7.4 billion light-years away, is the titanic detonation of a star more than eight times as massive as our Sun.

	This is a view of the many computers that are part of the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), located at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. The archive is named in honor of the United States Senator from Maryland for her career-long achievements and for becoming the longest-serving woman in U.S. Congressional history. Senator Mikulski is at picture center, STScI Director Matt Mountain at her right, and STScI Deputy Director Kathryn Flanagan at her left. The plaque is a photo of Supernova Milkuski, an exploding star that the Hubble Space Telescope spotted on Jan. 25, 2012, named in honor of the Senator by Nobel Laureate Adam Riess and the supernova search team with which he is currently working.

"I'm humbled and honored to be recognized by our nation's top scientists and innovators as a fighter for science and research," Sen. Mikulski said. "I believe in American exceptionalism; not just because we say we are, but because of our investment in innovation. Through innovation, America has led the way in scientific breakthroughs and discoveries, which inspire future scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs. I am proud to be the namesake of the archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is the enduring legacy of Hubble, and will allow us to peer even further into the origins of the universe after the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope."

MAST is NASA's repository for all of its optical and ultraviolet-light observations, some of which date to the early 1970s. The archive contains information from the golden age of astronomy, spanning the past three decades. An armada of space telescopes has surveyed the universe across a broad spectrum of energies. Data from such groundbreaking missions as the planet-hunting Kepler Observatory and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer are part of the MAST archive.

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