Hubble Space Telescope Explained

The Hubble Space Telescope launched into low Earth orbit in 1990. It has remained in orbit since.

Astronomer Lyman Spitzer published a paper about an extraterrestrial observatory in 1946. He pushed for a space telescope.

The telescope budget included a small placeholder amount.

Noel Hinners cut all funding for Hubble in 1977. The gamble worked.

Congress approved 36 million dollars for 1978. The mirror diameter shrank from 3 m to 2.4 m to cut costs.

Perkin-Elmer ground the main mirror incorrectly, causing spherical aberration. Kodak built a backup mirror.

Servicing mission STS-61 corrected the optics in 1993. Five Space Shuttle missions repaired and upgraded systems over time.

Hubble completed 30 years of operation in April 2020. Engineers predict it will last until 2030 or 2040.