Editing Spacelab (section)

===Instrument Pointing System===
The IPS was a gimbaled pointing device, capable of aiming telescopes, cameras, or other instruments.<ref name="airandspace.si.edu">{{cite web |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/spacelab-instrument-pointing-system |title=Spacelab, Instrument Pointing System |date=17 March 2016}}</ref> IPS was used on three different Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1995.<ref name="airandspace.si.edu"/> IPS was manufactured by [[Dornier Flugzeugwerke|Dornier]], and two units were made.<ref name="airandspace.si.edu"/> The IPS was primarily constructed out of aluminum, steel, and [[multi-layer insulation]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/spacelab-instrument-pointing-system |title=Spacelab, Instrument Pointing System |date=2016-03-18}}</ref>

IPS would be mounted inside the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and could provide gimbaled 3-axis pointing.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> It was designed for a pointing accuracy of less than 1 arcsecond (a unit of degree), and three pointing modes including Earth, Sun, and Stellar focused modes.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Heusmann |first1=H. |last2=Wolf |first2=P. |date=1985 |title=The Spacelab Instrument Pointing System (IPS) and its first flight |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234272535 |journal=ESA Bulletin |volume=44 |pages=75–79 |bibcode=1985ESABu..44...75H}}</ref> The IPS was mounted on a pallet exposed to outer space in the payload bay.<ref name=":0"/>

IPS missions:<ref name="airandspace.si.edu"/>
* Spacelab 2, a.k.a. [[STS-51-F]] launched 1985
* Astro-1, a.k.a. [[STS-35]] launched in 1990<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-35.html |title=NASA – STS-35 |first=Lynda Warnock |last=KSC}}</ref>
* Astro-2, a.k.a. [[STS-67]] launched in 1995

The Spacelab 2 mission flew the [[infrared telescope|Infrared Telescope]] (IRT), which was a {{cvt|15.2|cm}} aperture helium-cooled infrared telescope, observing light between wavelengths of 1.7 to 118 μm.<ref name=kent>[https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1992ApJS...78..403K Kent, et al. – ''Galactic structure from the Spacelab infrared telescope'' (1992)]</ref> IRT collected infrared data on 60% of the galactic plane.<ref name="ipac.caltech.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/outreach/Edu/orbit.html |title=History of Infrared Astronomy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221020839/http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/outreach/Edu/orbit.html |archive-date=2016-12-21}}</ref>
{{See also|List of space telescopes}}

<gallery>
Spacelab IPS.jpg|Instrument Pointing System (IPS)
Astro2 sts67 big.jpg|IPS at work above the sky on Astro-2, 1995
Spacelab Instrument Pointing System at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Dec 2017.jpg|Dornier Instrument Pointing System at the Smithsonian Museum (Udvar Hazy Center)
</gallery>