In May 1785 she and her sister ship Boussole (previously Portefaix) were renamed, rerated as frigates, and fitted for round-the-world scientific exploration.

The two ships departed from Brest on 1 August 1785, Boussole commanded by Lapérouse and Astrolabe under Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle.

It is also notably the subject of a chapter from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Jules Verne's 1870 novel.

[2] Objects recovered from the wreck are part of the collection of the Maritime Museum of New Caledonia.

[3] Its crew included French priest Louis Receveur, the first Catholic and second non-indigenous person to be buried in Australia.