The Story of How Hubble Telescope Came to Be

The modern telescope can gaze far into the night sky, giving scientist a picture of what lies beyond Earth. But there's a major problem with these telescopes. Their limited by the earthly atmosphere. Substances like greenhouse gasses and light pollution due to nearby cities or towns drastically limit the telescopic clarity and sight.
Scientist gathered to come up with a solution to a problem that seminglesly impossible nearinging the end of the 20th century. They couldn't purify the globe nor get rid of city's to make way for observatories. NASA and others were frightened by this hold back. Fearing they would never be able to improve the telescope anymore than its present state. Astrophysicist Lyman spitzer came up with a revolutionary idea that was out of this world. Lyman decided to forget about the atmosphere in general. Coming up with the idea of a telescope in space.

So the idea of a space telescope was born. A telescope that could extend our reach far into deep space. Scientist would soon name the telescope, a first of its kind, in honor of a gentleman in the astronomy community. Edwin Hubble. They couldn't have chosen a better name. Hubble stated the universe was expanding so was our need for answers and what better way to reach those answers than a telescope.

Upon presenting the idea in front of NASA it was approved by congress in 1977 and work begun. Such a monstrosity of a project would not be easy. Requiring various skill sets all around the world. So NASA partnered with ESA a european company to help them with the task. The project would take a number of years to complete as well as hundreds of millions of dollars. Funding was not easy thought. For the public the concept of a space telescope was irrelevant to their tax money.

On april 24th 1990 a 1.6 billion dollar dream became a reality, one that would reach for the stars. Strapped to the trusted spaceship Discovery, with 39 successful missions under its belt, hubble was thrusted into the upper atmosphere. As well as 5 intensely trained american lives, prepared for anything that came their way. Upon reaching max Q or maximum aerodynamic pressure Discovery meet speeds upward of seventy-thousand MPH. Dance viciously like a leaf in a hurricane.

Upon reaching its target altitude of 381 miles hubble was scheduled to be cut from its umbilical cord. Spreading its wings to venture the universe and report back to earth. But there was a problem hubless, “wings”, the solaer aray that powered the device werent diployiong. Leaving hubble dead in space. So the five crew members that accompanied hubble were put to work. Trying various things to get Hubble up and running, but nothing worked. Now communicating closely with ground control. The solution was found. Hubble was soon released, left floating above the heavens.

History was on its way to being made. Although that's what many thought. After hubble's Rugged ride to space the mirrors had to be calibrated, in order to focus the lens. But Hubble wasn't focusing not to nearly the extent NASA had hoped. The pictures were Blurry. Hubble, left scientist with many questions. Eventually coming to the conclusion that the mirror was the wrong prescription…. But they weren't. These mirrors were engineered by some of the greatest minds on the planet, they couldn't have been the wrong prescription. So The Discovery shuttle team investigated. They discovered that the mirror was bent due to the vicious vibrations of the travel to space. With a weight of 2,300 Lbs the mirror was vulnerable to damage in flight. Altho seminoles little to the untrained, the mirror wasd bent an astounding one half of a human hair over a 100 inch span. That's a lot for a piece of technology with such sensitivity. Breaking the new to the public. NASA stating that hubble would not be performing the work previously promised.

Although it may have seen like the end of the road for hubble, it was just the beginning. Remember This is NASA creation were talking about. They were ready for this moment. Hubble was designed to be modified and upgraded in the future. And so replacement parts were ordered, and would be sent to hubble amongst the space shuttle Endeavor. But it wouldn't be easy. Fixing the world's most sensitive piece of equipment at an altitude of 381 miles and a cruising speed of 1,800mph proved difficult. With 13 systems to fix and a five day space walk. But once again NASA pulled through. Now standing behind their initial claim on what hubble was capable of doing.

With every major telescope the first image is always captivating especially on something this revolutionary. The images were Phenomenal Giving us sight of what only can be explained as heavenly. With such high hopes for Hubble NASA took a daring move in 2014. Pointing the telescope at the darkest and deepest part of space they could find. A patches so tiny it would be like looking at the nose of Lincoln on a penny from Boston to Chicago. Leaving the Camera shutter open for 22 days absorbing as much light as possible. And what came back astounded the world. They called the photo Hubble Ultra deep Field. The name speaks for itself. In this one image 10,000 galaxies were counted. Since these galaxies are so far away light takes awhile to get to earth to say the least. It truly is mesmerizing. To think somewhere out there a star illuminated these photons which had traveled an est 800,000,000 years to where they finally came to rest on arguably mankind's most prized piece of technology.