Jim Bell - Hubble Legacy: 30 Years of Discoveries and Images

John M. Grunsfeld, PhD, Astrophysicist/Astronaut, Hubble Repairman

For millennia, humans have looked to the night sky to find meaning in the arrangement of the stars and the meanderings of the Moon, the planets, and the occasional comet. Modernity has not changed our fascination with the mysteries of the Universe; rather, our curiosity about the nature of the Cosmos has only increased. We know that the Universe was born in a Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago and has expanded to form the arrangement of galaxies seen today through telescopes that extend our vision far beyond what was available to our ancestors. Black holes dot the Universe, and planets circle nearly all the stars we see in the night sky. We owe this knowledge to the legions of astronomers who have dedicated their lives to studying the data we obtain from telescopes on Earth and in space, and to the ingenious engineers and technicians who create their astronomical observatories. One such observatory in space, the Hubble Space Telescope, holds a special place in the history of astronomical discovery. It is perhaps the most significant scientific instrument ever built, due to the breadth and depth of the discoveries made using it. As we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of Hubble in 1990, we also celebrate the incredible journey of discovery by humankind in the pursuit of knowledge.

The Hubble Space Telescope has made observations that helped provide answers to ancient questions like: Where did we come from? Where did the matter, the stars, planets, and galaxies, the chemical elements that were made of come from? Where are we going? What is the future trajectory of our solar system? What is the future of the Sun and the destiny of the galaxies in our Universe? Do black holes exist? (Yes!) Are there planets around nearby stars? (Yes!)

Yet all this science is in some ways eclipsed by the most significant achievement by Hubble: the images taken by its cameras show us that the Universe is much richer and more beautiful than we ever could have imagined. These now-familiar images shown throughout this book have inspired people around the world, uplifting our spirits and driving our curiosity.

These glorious thirty years of wonder and awe courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope were anything but certain. In fact, after its launch on the space shuttle Discovery in 1990, the telescope was down and out with few expectations of success. A small flaw in the making of the 2.4-meterdiameter primary mirror (see ) portended a bleak future for the iconic telescope. The images were blurry, and astronomers worried that the mission might be a near-total loss. The investment in the telescope by the public ran into the billions of dollars, and so Congress was equally baffled and angry about the error in Hubbles optics. To make matters worse, Hubble became the butt of jokes on late-night TV and fodder for editorial cartoonists. Fortunately for all of us, this was not the end of the story but the beginning of a marvelous journey that not only saved the telescope but extended its vision beyond anything that had been imagined when it was built.

: NASA Hubble repair astronaut John Grunsfelds mirrored helmet visor reflects fellow astronaut Andrew Feustel working high above the Earth in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Atlantis during Hubble Servicing Mission 4 (SM-4) in May, 2009.