The Earth's atmosphere provides a layer of protection and promotes life on the planet. Unfortunately, it also acts as a barrier, preventing us from easily studying and observing the universe. The images gathered by mirrors or lenses ripple and shake due to atmospheric turbulence. In addition, our atmosphere shuts out most radiation (other than visible light and radio waves), so many wavelengths cannot be measured from Earth itself. For example, scientists have learned that a majority of objects in space--from cold planets and stars to extremely hot galaxies and quasars-emit infrared rays. Yet this radiation is absorbed by water vapor in the atmosphere, and most ground telescopes are unable to gather these important data.

To minimize atmospheric distortion, telescopes have traditionally been located on mountains where the atmosphere is thinnest. This solution, however, remains extremely limiting. To observe different celestial radiation types and to overcome atmospheric...