Today marks an amazing 28 years since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the premier tools in our study of the origins of the universe. Orbiting the Earth well above the light altering effects of the bulk of the atmosphere, Hubble was placed in a unique position to spend days, weeks, months, peering at the deepest, darkest, farthest spots in the sky and show us more than we could ever imagine was actually out there.
This mission began on April 24th, 1990 when, after many years of delays, Hubble was finally launched onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. One month later, on May 25th it entered service, and soon after that it was discovered the main mirror for the telescope was improperly formed — Hubble was, effectively, nearsighted!
An adaptive system was installed on the first servicing mission of 5 which would occur through the Shuttle program. These missions would replace damaged or outdated hardware on the telescope, upgrading and improving the machine as it continued its mission.
Hubble was originally intended to be returned to Earth late in the life of the Shuttle Program, but following the Columbia disaster, that wouldn’t be the case – the final servicing mission in 2009 made a final set of upgrades to the telescope and put on a system to allow a possible future system to dock to and conduct a controlled de-orbit of the spacecraft.
Hubble is still up there, right now, fully operational, still sending us spectacular images of the cosmos. The Hubble Space Telescope is thought to possibly function well into 2030 or 2040.
Something interesting to note is that the Hubble Space Telescope helped set the size of the Space Shuttle cargo bay, albeit indirectly – the Hubble Space Telescope is based on the KH-11 Kennen / Crystal spy satellites, which are basically the same size and shape, but are designed for Earth observation as opposed to scanning deep space. These satellites have been launched between 1976 and 2013 on both Titan III, Titan IV, and Delta IV launch systems. In fact, NROL-20 was a KH-11 launch which was also the final Titan launch ever. The Space Shuttle has an amazing history with relation to the Air Force and Titan launch vehicle, but that’s another story for another article.
Indeed, a detailed look at the Hubble Space Telescope and STS-31 is coming on the 30th anniversary. For now, the launch of Hubble on STS-31. Enjoy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-31
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen