• Key Information

  • Hubble Space Telescope

  • Type
    Optical Space Telescope
  • Time
    1990 to present
  • Launch
    April 24, 1990 on Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31)
  • Mirror Diameter
    7 ft 10 in
  • Wavelengths
    Near-infrared, visible light, ultraviolet
  • Learning Point
  • Hubble Space Telescope, also known as HST, was launched in 1990, and has been one of the most successful space telescopes. It is famous for its beautiful pictures, as well as the troubles surrounding faults with the mirror that had to be corrected by the Space Shuttle.
  • Project
  • What challenges are there for telescopes on the ground? How do space telescopes solve those issues, but what other challenges do they create?
  • Location
  • Located in
    Merrit Island, Florida
  • Fun Facts
  • Hermann Oberth was one of the first people to suggest an orbital space telescope in 1923.
  • The original plan for Hubble was for it to operate 15 years, but as of 2023, it is over 32 years from the start of its mission.
  • A flaw in the machines producing the main mirror meant it was launched without being able to clearly focus on what it was looking at.
  • To fix the mirror's flaw, they introduced corrective mirrors (COSTAR), acting like glasses, to adjust for the errors in the images Hubble was producing.
  • By 2002, all the original instruments requiring COSTAR had been replaced by instruments with their own corrective optics, so COSTAR was removed and returned to Earth in 2009.