Ever since it’s first debut in April 24, 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope has been providing us with some astonishing views. The Hubble telescope was responsible for delivering us that famous image of the Pillars of Creation, as well as many others.
However, the journey to this wasn’t easy. Back when Hubble was launched, it had a defect – it couldn’t see straight. It had a flaw in it’s primary mirror, which was fixed in it’s 1st servicing mission. On December 2, 1993, the space shuttle Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center to fix the telescope.
When the astronauts arrived at Hubble, they were able to slide in new components to fix the problem. They swapped out both the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC2) as well as the Corrective Optics Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR). The new equipment had corrective optics to compensate for the mirror flaw, and thankfully, the mission was a success.
Thanks to those astronauts, we are able to use the telescope today.
Image Source: NASA
