The ultraviolet and far–ultraviolet spectra of HD 147888 allows to access the \nu =0 as well as higher vibrational levels of the ground H _ { 2 } electronic level .
We have determined column densities of the H _ { 2 } molecule on vibrational levels \nu =0–5 and rotational levels J=0–6 .
The ortho to para H _ { 2 } ratio for the excited vibrational states equals to 1.2 .
For the lowest vibrational state \nu = 0 and rotational level J=1 the ortho to para H _ { 2 } ratio is only 0.16 .
The temperature of ortho–para thermodynamical equilibrium is T _ { OP } = 43 \pm 3 K .

The large number of H _ { 2 } absorption lines in the HST spectra allows to determine column densities even from a noisy spectra .
The measurements of H _ { 2 } column densities on excited vibrational levels ( from the HST spectra ) leads to constrains of radiation field in photon–dominated regions ( PDR ) models of interstellar cloud towards HD 147888 .