24. The Hipparcos mission (Lennart Lindegren)

Lennart Lindegren (Svalöv, Sweden, 1950) joins me for a second time. In an earlier conversation we talked about the period leading up to the adoption of Hipparcos in 1980. Today (as in my second conversation with Erik Høg), we discuss the Hipparcos mission, from its acceptance in 1980 to its completion in 1997. We talk about his role in the mission development, and in the preparation for - and the analysis of - the data sent down from the satellite. We also talk about his memories of the satellite launch in 1989, and of finalising the Hipparcos Catalogue.