Kepler Space Telescope

The Kepler Space Telescope was launched in 2009 wit the science mission of discovering exoplanets, specifically Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. In its nine years of active service for astronomers in the Kepler and followup K2 missions, the spacecraft discovered over 2,600 exoplanets including hundreds that might be rocky planets like Earth. Kepler was retired in 2018 after a successful decade of scientific observation that is a fitting tribute to its namesake, astronomer Johannes Kepler.