The Hubble Space Telescope

The space race of the 1960s was a major time for America in space, but landing men on the moon wasn't the end of the American exploration of space.  In the 1990s, NASA was launching more space shuttles than ever before and space stations were being built thanks to the new shuttle technology.  One major milestone for NASA took place on April 24, 1990.  On this date, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched.  This was the first great space observatory launched by NASA and it played a critical role in the understanding of space we have today.

The Hubble Space Telescope is named after Edwin Hubble.  Hubble was an astronomer who showed that the faint clouds that could be seen in the sky were actually entire galaxies in the 1920s.  He was crucial to the initial understanding of space, hence the naming of the telescope after him.

he original goals of the telescope were somewhat simple.  The scientists hoped that the telescope would be able to help determine some of the processes that occur in stars and other galactic objects.  The telescope was also supposed to help confirm that the laws of physics could still apply in other parts of the universe.

One key detail that makes this telescope so impressive is the number of times that it has been serviced while in orbit.  There have been 5 different servicing events by astronauts on board the space shuttle.  The servicing missions took place from 1993 to 2009.  The first servicing mission was actually to install devices to helo compensate for the fact that the primary mirror of the telescope was shaped incorrectly.  Without the ability to complete these in-orbit repairs, the telescope would have continued being broken and it would have affected the mission.  They also added 2 new cameras to Hubble in 1997 which were built using technology that didn't exist when the telescope was originally being built.  The final servicing mission (which was originally scheduled for 2004) took place in 2009 and included the first on-site repairs for 2 different instruments.  This ability was something nobody had ever thought possible.  Having such an expensive piece of technology repaired in orbit is what has made this telescope so useful for 3 decades.

Despite being almost 30 years old, the telescope isn't going anywhere.  NASA has the Hubble operations funded through 2021, which is the estimated date for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble. The telescope is predicted to naturally fall out of orbit sometime in the 2030s, but it is unclear if NASA will use private spacecraft to give the telescope a boost.  Despite some equipment failures, the telescope is still transmitting data to us to this day.






Sources: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/history/timeline/90s-decade.html
https://hubblesite.org/mission-and-telescope
https://astronomy.com/news/2019/10/how-long-will-the-hubble-space-telescope-last