Launched in 1978 as a joint venture between NASA and ESA, the unmanned International Ultraviolet Explorer is commanded to exhaust its remaining fuel and cease all contact with Earth. Though its detectors and other instruments are still functioning well after 18 years in orbit, its stabilization gyros have failed one by one until the satellite is unable to be aimed at deep space targets with any accuracy. IUE remains powered down, adrift in a geosynchronous orbit.
