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You may have heard of the terrible news regarding the recent damage to the Arecibo Observatory 
In order to honour the facility and the amazing things it accomplished, I want to share a story that is maybe not very widely known.
*Storytime*: The day we lost SOHO
https://twitter.com/SETIInstitute/status/1293271899963891712
In order to honour the facility and the amazing things it accomplished, I want to share a story that is maybe not very widely known.
*Storytime*: The day we lost SOHO
https://twitter.com/SETIInstitute/status/1293271899963891712
The ESA–NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft was launched in 1995 to study the Sun using 12 instruments. On 24 June 1998, after completing its 2-year nominal mission, the spacecraft lost its attitude lock on the Sun during routine maintenance operations.
The loss of contact triggered a safe mode called Emergency Sun Reacquisition, where the spacecraft tries to face back to the Sun using its thrusters. In a rush to re-establish contact, a faulty routine was sent to SOHO's computer, causing the spacecraft to shut down completely!
Without power, SOHO could not control its temperature and position (which, as you might imagine, is pretty bad when you are immersed in the depths of space). The main problem was that scientists did not know anymore where SOHO was! Many attempts at waking it up were unsuccessful.
Then, the idea: the 305-m Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, the world’s most powerful radar, could detect a steel golf ball at the distance of the Moon, sure it can detect a 9.5-m satellite around the Lagrange L1 point, four times the Earth–Moon distance?
So, the search started: the Arecibo telescope was used to transmit signals in the general direction of SOHO, whilst the Deep Space Network 70-m dish in Goldstone (CA) acted as a receiver, picking up the reflection of the pulses sent from Arecibo
On 23 July 1998, a month after loss of contact, SOHO was finally located, slowly spinning close to its expected position. On 3 Aug, contact was re-established! 
It took until 16 Sep to re-charge the batteries, thaw the hydrazine tank, and re-point SOHO towards the Sun 
It took until 16 Sep to re-charge the batteries, thaw the hydrazine tank, and re-point SOHO towards the Sun
22 years later, SOHO is still operational and still considered one of the most important solar missions ever launched. If you are passionate about heliophysics and space weather, remember that many achievements in the field were possible thanks to Arecibo's SOHO rescue mission 
Want to know more? Here is an article that tells this story and much more about SOHO! https://twitter.com/ericb_____n/status/1295633903651360768?s=20
