SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) is the last of the NASA Great Observatories, and a cornerstone of the NASA Origins Missions. The Observatory will include an 85 cm telescope in a unique orbit around the Sun. The telescope wild be launched at ambient temperature and cooled to 5.5 K in space. The science instruments will use large detector arrays that will be background limited and capable of a broad range of astrophysical investigations. The SIRTF architecture will accommodate up to 5 years of cryogenic space operations. This talk will describe both the scientific and technical capabilities of SIRTF