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Nature 419, 666 (17 October 2002) | doi:10.1038/419666a

Open Innovation Challenges

Human spaceflight: A million-mile service

Tony Reichhardt1

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NASA wants many of its space telescopes to orbit far from Earth. So how will they be repaired if they go wrong? Tony Reichhardt investigates.

If you keep the Sun at your back and head one-and-a-half-million kilometres away from Earth, you'll hit astronomy's most sought-after location. This unassuming spot, known as L2, is set to become home to eight new space telescopes over the next 15 years, and many more could follow.