NASA developed a number of Orbital Solar Observatories (OSO), which were launched between 1962 and 1975.
Their purpose was to observe the Sun’s ultraviolet, gamma, and X rays throughout an 11-year sunspot cycle.
From 1973 to 1974, a special Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) was attached to Skylab for observation of the Sun.
The successor to the OSO program was called the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM), which studied the Sun during the climax of sunspot activity.
The SMM was launched in 1980, repaired by a shuttle crew in 1984, and continued to operate until 1989. Solar observations have also been carried out by France, Japan, and the USSR.
Special attention has been given to the phenomenon of solar wind by NASA, the ESA, and the USSR.
