Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution contributed to the national space program through the research of staff scientists at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at the Center for Planetary Studies and Laboratory for Astrophysics, based at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The SAO-designed Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer instrument aboard the NASA-European Space Agency international Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite produced the first images of the Sun's extended corona. SAO was selected to operate the Flight Operations Control Center for the upcoming Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility spacecraft. Special devices for creating images of astronomical objects emitting infrared radiation, developed in part by SAO and collaborators for flight aboard the proposed Space Infrared Telescope Facility mission, won industry recognition for their contribution to this technology. An SAO astronomer, using the HST, made the first direct image of the surface of a star, the stellar behemoth Betelgeuse, other than the Sun. At the Smithsonian's Center for Planetary Studies, researchers used Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-C) data to identify areas for detailed field investigations in Egypt.