The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched, carrying a mirror and instruments sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands (55–672 µm). "Herschel" was the fourth and final cornerstone mission in the Horizon 2000 programme, following "SOHO"/"Cluster II", "XMM-Newton" and "Rosetta". NASA is a partner in the "Herschel" mission, with US participants contributing to the mission; providing mission-enabling instrument technology and sponsoring the NASA Herschel Science Center (NHSC) at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and the Herschel Data Search at the Infrared Science Archive.