The Laser Interferometer Gravitational‐Wave Observatory (LIGO) is part of an international effort to search for gravitational waves emitted by astrophysical sources. Detector sites at Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana, will consist of interferometers to detect the small displacements of suspended test masses induced by the gravitational waves. In the initial phase of LIGO, three interferometers will be operated in coincidence as a single detector. Construction of the LIGO facilities has recently begun, while research and design continues on the development of the initial interferometer design. Completion of the facility and initiation of the detector commissioning and early running is expected to begin approximately in the year 2000.