It was the year 1970, exactly on December 12, when NASA successfully launched the first satellite for the study of X-rays at the space level . Also known by the name of SAS-1, for its acronym in English for Small Astronomical Satellite , the device orbited for three years about 550 kilometers from Earth in search of X-ray sources from anywhere in the universe.
Its strange name, Uhuru, comes from Swahili, a typical Kenyan language that means “freedom. NASA decided to name the satellite in recognition of the hospitality offered by Kenya, the country from which it was launched and in commemoration of the seventh anniversary of its official independence as a state.
