The Background
 Even though the telescope has only been in orbit since
1990, the idea of a “space-based optical observatory”
actually came after WWII in 1946
 Lyman Spitzer, a professor at Yale University, argued
that a telescope placed in outer space would give
significant advantages to any telescope on the ground.
 He believed that it would help scientists so much, he
wrote a paper on its advantages called “Astronomical
Advantages of an Extra-Terrestrial Observatory”
Astronomical Advantages of an
Extra-Terrestrial Observatory
 Describes how the Earth’s atmosphere distorts the
images that even the most high quality telescopes on
earth can produce.
 A telescope in orbit can avoid this phenomena
 The earth’s atmosphere also blocks X-ray emissions
from stars.
 A telescope in outer space, out of the earth’s
atmosphere, can better detect these emissions from
stars, planets, and other phenomena
The Background
 A meeting held in 1966, National Academy of Science
Ad Hoc Committee on the Large Space Telescope
headed by Spitzer conducted comprehensive studies
determining the pros and cons of having a telescope in
outer space
 This would determine if it was worth funding
 It would also have to prove to NASA that it was worth
funding
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NASA would be the only organization that would be able to
make this concept a reality because of funding and
construction
Background
 Werhner Von Braun had looked into a space telescope
 World’s leading rocket scientists who came from
Germany after WWII
 Believed it would be too challenging
 NASA itself had also looked into the advantages of a
space telescope
 Their original plan for the telescope had mirrors that
were smaller than the ones proposed by Spitzer and his
group
Coming Together
 In 1971, NASA’s acting administrator, George Low, gave
the go ahead for a Large Space Telescope Science
Steering Group to conduct studies determining
whether or not to slowly build up to a full space
observatory, or to just leap to a full finished product.
 Now with NASA onboard, the Next step would be
funding the project…. A hefty $400-$500 million!
Coming Together
 Because of its big price tag, NASA wanted to take
advantage of it’s world wide sources to help reduce costs.
 The project was originally rejected by the House
Appropriations Subcommittee in 1975.
 NASA asked the European Space Research Organization
(ESRO) to help with making inexpensive solar panels and
help with observations and research
 ESRO the offer, knocking the project’s price tag down to
around $200 million

The House Appropriations Subcommittee then approved funding for
the program which would start in 1977
Coming Together
 Perkin-Elmer Corporation
 Designed mirrors and optical assembly for the telescope
 Lockhead Missiles and Space Company
 Designed shuttle and support system
 The Europeans
 Designed the solar array that powered the Hubble while
in orbit
The Hold Up
 The original plan was to launch Hubble in 1983,
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however, there was a slight delay
The Perkin-Elmer mirror was created in 1981, but the
entire housing for the mirror wasn’t put together until
1984.
The entire telescope wasn’t fully assembled until 1985
It was 43.5 feet long
Weighed 24,500 lbs
14 ft in diameter
Tragedy Strikes
 While anticipation for the Hubble Telescope was
building and the Hubble was officially ready in
December 1985, NASA planned an October launch.
However, tragedy then strikes the nation on January
28th 1986….
Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes
 The Space shuttle explosion causes NASA to cancel any
scheduled shuttle flights until 1988
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
 After all of these delays, the Hubble was launched into
space aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24th,
1988
 Its original equipment included: Wide Field/Planetary
Camera (WF/PC), Goddard High Resolution
Spectograph (GHRS), Faint Object Camera (FOC),
Faint Object Spectograph (FOS), and High Speed
Photometer (HSP)
 These are all types of camera lenses designed to capture
different camera angles, depths, and perspectives
One Last Problem
 Shortly after the telescope started returning images to
earth from space, scientists discovered that the images
were very blurry.
 They came to the conclusion that something was
wrong with the primary mirror
 This was due to a miscallibrated measuring which
caused the edges of the mirror to e ground too flat,
causing distortion
The Problem Solvers
 As a result, COSTAR was created
 Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement

This was created to be able to replace the Hubble’s optics so that all
lenses and mirrors could function properly
 In December of 1993, a team of STS-61 members safely
completed the mission to replace the Hubble’s optics
 Broke the world record with 5 back to back space walks
 The Wide Field/Planetary Camera was replaced with the
Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2, which was designed to
compensate for the mirror problem.
 The team also performed basic maintenance on the craft,
installed new solar arrays, and replaced four of Hubble's
gyroscopes
The Hubble Now