The Hubble Legacy

Overview
USA TODAY Education, in cooperation with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, brings you this six-part case study, which
explores the human ingenuity, vision and expertise represented in the still-evolving story of the Hubble Space Tele­
scope. Parts 1 through 5 of the study contain USA TODAY articles published throughout the almost two-decade history
of Hubble. The critical inquiry questions in part 6 of the study were designed by NASA subject matter experts, including
engineers who worked tirelessly to develop solutions to Hubble Telescope challenges and astronauts who implemented
those solutions on Hubble servicing missions. Those questions ask you to analyze and evaluate the ideas, history and
innovations discussed in the USA TODAY articles.

Table of Contents
Part One: The Promise Part Two: The Problem
“Hubble: Astronomy’s time machine” “Poor eyesight is Hubble’s latest trouble”
By Paul Hoversten By Paul Hoversten
Published: April 25, 1990 Published: June 28, 1990

Part Three: The Solutions and the Stakes Part Four: The Rewards
“Reviving Hubble and NASA” “The once-troubled Hubble flying high”
By Paul Hoversten By Todd Halvorson
Published: November 30, 1993 Published: December 26, 1995

Part Five: The Future Awaits Part Six: Critical Inquiry

“Daring Hubble repair plan awaits ‘go’” Discussion Questions
By Traci Watson Internet Resources
Published: October 31, 2006 Contributing Expert’s Bios

In collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
 The Hubble Legacy
Part One: The Promise

SUMMARY
The still-evolving story of the Hubble Space Telescope is one
that encompasses far-sighted vision, engineering expertise
and the indisputable value of the ‘can do’ attitude that has
resulted in remarkable scientific discoveries.

When NASA first started planning the Hubble Space Tele-

scope in the late 1960s*, the Space Shuttle, which was origi-
nally conceived to permit space-suited astronauts to repair
and upgrade satellites, had not yet been built or flown . For
NASA to commit to design Hubble for astronaut servicing
was a huge leap of faith, similar to that made by President
Kennedy when he committed the nation to going to the
Moon before any American had even ventured as far as NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Photo courtesy of NASA
Earth’s orbit.
Using incredible scientific and engineering ingenuity, thou-
This fundamental decision led to the incredible Hubble sto- sands of people planned, designed, built, tested, trained for,
ry told in these articles. The high expectations for what the upgraded, repaired and operated this extraordinary instru-
telescope could accomplish was followed by the incredible ment. Their innovations and improvements have resulted in
low points experienced by astronomers, NASA and the pub- more amazing scientific discoveries than anyone ever had
lic following the discovery that a slightly misshapen mirror imagined, as well as an extended operational life for Hubble.
** prevented Hubble from properly focusing on celestial This willingness to persevere in the face of extreme chal-
bodies. It is hard today, after 18+ years of amazing success lenge is a tribute to the human spirit that inspires and en-
for Hubble, to imagine the anguish and despair felt among ergizes us all and serves as an excellent model for tackling
the Hubble community in the years between the launch of today’s challenges - on Earth and beyond.
Hubble in 1990 and the successful results of its First Servic-
ing Mission in 1993.

The exhaustive preparation for that initial rescue and ser-

vicing mission and the three subsequent Hubble servicing
missions have taught many lessons in problem-solving, both * Scientist Lyman Spitzer (1914-1997) spent the 1960’s proposing a
on the ground and in space. “Spin-off” technologies remind large space telescope to NASA and Congress. Initial concept studies
us that when smart people solve technological problems, began in the late 1960s, and the Hubble Space Telescope finally be-
came a reality as a funded program in 1978.
results often go far beyond any original expectations, even
into unrelated areas. ** The mirror was too flat on the outer edges by 1/50 the diameter of
a human hair.
The tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in early 2003
delayed additional work that had been planned for Hubble.
Subsequent engineering solutions and increases in safety
measures have now made a fifth servicing mission possi-
ble. Hubble has been in operation far longer than originally
imagined and the completion of each of the servicing mis-
sions essentially left a new, improved telescope. The fifth
servicing mission gives Hubble a new ‘lease on life.’

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part One: The Promise
Hubble: Astronomy’s time machine
‘New era’ for mankind will open today
By Paul Hoversten, USA TODAY
April 25, 1990
Page 1A
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The splendor of the universe is
about to come into focus as the space shuttle astronauts
prepare to send the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope
into orbit today.
Not since the Italian astronomer Galileo turned his spy-
glass to the heavens 400 years ago and saw craters on the
moon and stripes on Jupiter has there been such a quan-
tum leap in astronomy.
Until now, scientists wanting a clear look at stars and gal-
axies were thwarted by Earth’s turbulent atmosphere,
which blurs and distorts the view. But Hubble - orbiting
high above the clouds - can peer undisturbed.
“We’re about to be given a pair of glasses that brings the
universe into 20/20 clarity,” says NASA science chief Len-
nard Fisk. “It’ll be like the little near-sighted child in the
classroom who gets a pair of glasses and at last can see
what the teacher has been writing on the blackboard.”
At stake are answers to some of the most perplexing mys-
teries of the ages: How big is the universe? How old is it?
How do galaxies evolve? Are there other planets?
“Humans have pondered these questions since they first
left their cave and looked up into a clear night sky,” says
NASA project scientist Ed Weiler. The telescope “will pro-
vide ... a wonderous sailing ship to explore these puzzles.”
NASA is expected to release Hubble’s first pictures - of the
3 billion- year-old star cluster NGC 3532 - to the media
within a week. The star cluster is 1,500 light years from
Earth. Light travels 5.88 trillion miles in one year.
The telescope does have limitations. Because it orbits 360
miles above Earth, its view is blocked by the planet. Obser-
vation is limited to 30 minutes in each 90-minute orbit.
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But strange sights are out there:
- Faraway quasars - star-like objects smaller than our solar
system but 1,000 times as bright.
- “Black holes,” or collapsed stars, with gravity fields so
dense not even light can escape.
- “White dwarf” stars that formed billions of years after
most galaxies.
Hubble also may see Jupiter-size planets around other
suns.
“I don’t think we’re going to go to magic or superscience,”
says Riccardo Giacconi, head of the Space Telescope Sci-
ence Institute at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Institute, where
Hubble data will be analyzed and stored.
But the universe “may be put together in ways that we can’t
even fathom. There will be heroic attempts to understand
it ... because (doing so) is the key to what may happen.”
In particular, Giacconi and others want to know if the uni-
verse is still expanding - as U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble,
for whom the telescope is named, found in the 1920s. That
discovery led to the “Big Bang” theory, that the universe
formed in a cosmic explosion 15 billion years ago.
But how the universe will end is “one of the things nobody
knows,” says Hubble scientist Richard Harms of Applied
Research Corp. “If we can show the curvature of space, it
will help us understand the ultimate fate of the universe,
whether it keeps expanding forever or collapses.”
Built by Lockheed and Perkin-Elmer Corp. (now part of
Hughes Danbury), Hubble is an engineering marvel - half a
billion times more sensitive than the human eye, 10 times
more powerful than any telescope. It features:
- An 8-foot primary mirror, the most finely polished in the
world. It’s so smooth that, if scaled to the size of the Earth,
imperfections would be just five inches high.
Page 2
 The Hubble Legacy
Part One: The Promise
By comparison, ordinary eyeglasses scaled in the same
way would have peaks as tall as the Empire State Building.
- A truss that holds two mirrors 16 feet apart without shift-
ing more than 1/10,000th of an inch in heat or cold. That’s
1/30th the thickness of a piece of typing paper.
- Five science instruments, each the size of a refrigerator
that run on just 110-150 watts of power. That’s as much as
a typical three-way light bulb.
- Detectors sensitive enough to see a flashlight on the
moon from Earth (a distance of 250,000 miles) or a firefly
in Sydney, Australia, from Washington, D.C. (10,000 miles).
- Resolution with 10 times the clarity of past telescopes. A
license plate can be read at 30 miles, a nickel at six.
- A pointing mechanism steady enough that a laser fired
from the Capitol could hit a dime on Manhattan’s World
Trade Center and stay fixed on it for 24 hours.
The 12 1/2-ton telescope - 20 years in the making - is a
time machine: Astronomers will be able to see starlight
emitted 14 billion years ago - almost to the Big Bang - and
seven times farther than ground telescopes can see.
“To look back in time, we look deeper into space,” says
astronomer James Westphal of the California Institute of
Technology. “It’s a little hard for me to say what we’ll see.
Many surprises, and they may be very common.”
Hubble is the first of four Great Observatories that NASA
plans to launch in the 1990s, moving the pursuit of astron-
omy off the ground and into space. The telescope, which
measures mainly visible light, and two other observato-
ries, which will record cosmic X-rays and gamma rays, will
be launched and serviced by space shuttles.
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“We’re witnessing what will literally be the dawn of a new
era in astronomy,” says Fisk. “Never before has humankind
had the opportunity to increase its knowledge of the uni-
verse more rapidly than we will in the 1990s.”
In the process, NASA and space supporters are hoping the
wonders to be studied will inspire a new generation of sci-
entists and astronomers. Hundreds of astronomers around
the world - as well as promising college students in the
USA - will have access to the data.
“This is a stunning opportunity that will have a tremen-
dous impact on science education from grade school to
grad school,” says Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., whose
committee oversees NASA’s budget.
Operating costs for Hubble are expected to run $200 mil-
lion a year during its 15-year lifetime, pushing the total
program cost to about $5 billion.
“When this thing flies, there’s a lot riding on it,” says Gi-
acconi, echoing the concerns of many scientists who want-
ed Hubble to fly years earlier, on an un-manned rocket and
at a much higher altitude than the shuttle can go.
That would have stretched the telescope’s viewing time
per orbit, but made it impossible for astronauts to repair in
the event of a breakdown.
“I hate to think about it,” Giacconi says. “We’re talking
about lifetimes here of many people. One would like to not
have to do this (via shuttle) too many times.”
Shuttle commander Loren Shriver, noting Hubble is
planned to operate into the next century, says, “It should
be, and is, a source of national pride for the country.
“I might be able to tell my grandkids some day, `Yeah, it’s
still up there and is still sending back some data and your
old grandad actually had something to do with that.’ “
Page 3
 Page 4

Source: NASA, USA TODAY reporter Paul Hoversten, graphic by Bob Laird, USA TODAY
 The Hubble Legacy
Part Two: The Problem

Poor eyesight is Hubble’s latest trouble

Paul Hoversten
June 28, 1990
1A
The Hubble Space Telescope, which overcame early
wobbles and memory loss, will be near-sighted for three
years.
A flawed mirror on the troubled Hubble is blurring views -
and forcing NASA to put off many of Hubble’s tasks.
The setback is the most serious yet for the $1.5 billion tele-
scope, launched April 25.
Hubble’s wide-field planetary camera - responsible for
photographing the cosmos, 40% of the telescope’s 15-year
mission - is rendered useless for science.
NASA must wait until 1993, when another shuttle is sched-
uled to visit Hubble, to replace the camera - and compen-
sate for the mirrors. The camera’s cost is factored into Hub-
ble’s $200 million annual budget.
NASA is forming a panel to find out what went wrong.
The mirrors, built by Perkin-Elmer Corp. (now Hughes
Danbury Optical Systems), were tested on Earth - but nev-
er together, says Hubble deputy manager Jean Olivier.
A test site would have been “extremely costly and very
complicated,” he says. “Hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The firm’s engineers did “all the testing that NASA re-
quired,” says company spokesman Thomas Arconti.

As a result, Hubble can “see” the universe only in invisible
infrared and ultraviolet light - something no ground tele-
scope can do.
“We’re all very frustrated,” says NASA’s Ed Weiler.
NASA science chief Lennard Fisk says Hubble is still valu-
able: “You’re going to see astronomers oohing and aahing
over the images. I think you’re going to be very pleased
with the investment the country made in the telescope
even as it is today.”

Graphic by Marty Baumann, USA TODAY

In collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
 The Hubble Legacy
Part Two: The Problem

Source: Lockheed Missles and Space Co., NASA

Graphic by Bob Laird and Julie Stacey, USA TODAY

Page 2
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Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
 The Hubble Legacy
Part Three: The Solutions and the Stakes
Reviving Hubble and NASA
Losing Hubble ‘will not fulfill the dream’
By Paul Hoversten, USA TODAY
November 30, 1993
Page 1A
Seven astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour - tanks
full, tools at the ready - are poised for a white-knuckle
repair job during NASA’s toughest shuttle
mission.
Their task: catch and fix the ailing Hubble
Space Telescope - and restore some glory
to an agency that’s been pilloried as the
gang that couldn’t fly straight.
After a disastrous summer of errant rock-
et launches and a lost Mars probe, NASA
backers and bashers alike are clear on this:
The agency needs a home run with Hub-
ble, not only to shore up morale but to re-
assure the public and Congress that it can
still deliver.
“Whether we like it or not, this program is
going to be in the history books . . . either
as a national disgrace or a great American
comeback,” says Ed Weiler, a Hubble sci-
entist.
Carried into space three years ago as the
pride of U.S. astronomy, Hubble was sup-
posed to give scientists razor-sharp views
of distant stars and galaxies at the edge of
the universe. Instead, the telescope is sad-
dled with a misshapen mirror, wobbly
solar panels and dead gyroscopes that
threaten
the promise of the only orbiting observa-
tory.
“It’s going to be an extremely stressful mission that will
require no hangups,” says David Webb, head of space edu-
cation at Embry-Riddle University. “It has to be a spot-on
perfect mission to be pulled off.”
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No one is more aware of the pressure than Endeavour’s six
men and one woman - all veterans who have more flight
experience and longer training than any other crew.
“This is not your local garage. It’s space flight, one of the
most ambitious missions we’ve ever flown,” says payload
commander Story Musgrave, a four-time
shuttle astronaut. “It is a drama that’s go-
ing to have to be played out.”
That drama unfolds with the scheduled
launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Cen-
ter at 4: 57 a.m. ET Wednesday. The 11-
day mission is the first to visit a satellite
designed for servicing.
Endeavour’s rendezvous with Hubble 364
miles above Earth is set for Friday, when
the shuttle’s robotic arm will capture the
four-story telescope and haul it into the
cargo bay.
Then, two pairs of astronauts will make at
least five, 6-hour spacewalks - a U.S. record
- to replace equipment and install correc-
tive optics on the $ 2.1 billion telescope.
Finally, Hubble will be released into space
where it will orbit until the second service
mission in 1997.
Should something go wrong, the soon-
est NASA could revisit Hubble is about
six months. There’s no bringing Hubble
back to Earth: The shuttle is not carrying
the special cradle used to deploy the tele-
scope.
The mission couldn’t bring higher anxi-
ety for NASA, which had a string of
embarrassments this year - including a
weather satellite lost to a dead battery
and the Mars Observer probe that fell
silent.
 The Hubble Legacy
Part Three: The Solutions and the Stakes

Those setbacks dampened the euphoria from the last difficult to steady the telescope. Over time, fuses and
shuttle rendezvous - the dramatic rescue in May 1992 of
an Intelsat satellite that required a scripted, on-the-fly
grab by three spacewalkers.

Two crewmembers of that flight - Tom Akers, who helped

make the grab, and Kathy Thornton, who was on a differ-
ent spacewalk - are aboard Endeavour for this rescue.

A Hubble success now also is a critical confidence-builder

for another, even riskier program: NASA’s planned space
station, to be launched and assembled in orbit this decade.
The station, as with Hubble, will be designed for routine
service and repair jobs by spacewalkers.

“When the space station is built, this sort of thing will have
to be done all the time,” says Webb. “So this will plainly
demonstrate if we have the capability or not.”

Hubble’s problems began shortly after it was dropped off

in space by a shuttle in April 1990.

Scientists found to their horror that the telescope’s 8-foot

mirror had been ground too flat around the edges, caus-
ing starlight to spread out on the mirror’s surface in a
fuzzy halo instead of being focused to a point. The result is
blurred images.

Only through computer enhancement has NASA been able
to provide the tantalizing photos of distant stars and gal-
axy clusters ground-based telescopes can’t see because
of Earth’s atmosphere. Hubble has difficulties seeing very
dim stars or focusing on those in crowded fields.
“You won’t find a group of people who are more angry
than the astronomers,” says William Keel, an astronomer
at the University of Alabama. “We’ve been able to see just
enough to know what we’re missing.”
The curvature was off by 1/50th the width of a human hair
- a gaping margin in optical terms. Contractors Perkin-
Elmer Corp. and Hughes Danbury Optical Systems agreed
this October to pay the federal government $ 25 million
for the defect.
The servicing mission is costing taxpayers $ 251 million,
including $ 86 million to fix the mirror. In addition, just
launching the shuttle costs $ 500 million to $ 650 million.
There were more troubles: The delicate solar panels shud-
dered as Hubble moved into and out of sunlight, making it
In collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Graphic by Marty Baumann, USA TODAY
magnetic sensors wore out, computer software failed and
- worst of all - three of six gyroscopes failed.
With gyroscopes needed to point and align Hubble, having
three working ones “is essential for the health of the tele-
scope,” says Musgrave. “If we lose one more, we’re down
to a no-science mode.”
The solution for Hubble’s shaky health and myopic vision is
a risky one. After replacing the gyroscopes and solar pan-
els, spacewalkers Musgrave, Akers, Thornton and Jeff Hoff-
man will try to install two bulky, corrective optical units:
A 610-pound, wedge-shaped camera with built-in mirrors
replaces the wide-field camera in Hubble that now ren-
ders blurry images.
A 600-pound phone booth-size device with mirrors will
bounce starlight from the flawed primary mirror onto
three other instruments. Each has to fit just right for the
optics to work.
Page 2

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Three: The Solutions and the Stakes
“Nobody’s ever done this,” says John Pike of the Federation
of American Scientists. “I don’t think they’ve overlooked
something obvious, but I’m certain they’ve overlooked
something. Every mission has unanticipated problems.”
Adds Weiler: “You lie awake and think of what else can go
wrong. You think about it when you’re driving home, and
you go talk to the engineers again. I’ve done that about 12 or
15 times the past year.”
NASA will consider the mission a minimal success if the new
gyroscopes, solar panels and one of the two optical devices
can be installed. Scientists estimate it will take between 12
and 15 weeks to focus and recalibrate Hubble before they’ll
know if the problem is corrected.
“I’m not sure we can achieve nearly perfect,” says program
manager Ken Ledbetter. “When you’re pushing the edges of
the frontier you sometimes run into the unexpected. We
will accept whatever comes out of this mission and go on.”
The astronauts say their hope is to not worsen Hubble, and
they’ve spent 400 hours in an underwater tank to practice
the fixes.
“We have to exercise exquisite care because we’re going to
be working in an environment with a lot of very delicate
Hubble’s repair schedule
Wednesday, 12/1:
Launch at 4: 57 a.m. ET from Florida’s Kennedy Space
Center
Thursday and Friday, 12/2 and 3:
Establish orbit with Hubble, rendezvous and grapple tele-
scope into shuttle’s bay
Saturday, 12/4:
First spacewalk, or Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) with as-
tronauts Story Musgrave and Jeff Hoffman to replace two
of three non-operating gyroscopes that point and align
Hubble.
Sunday, 12/5:
Second EVA with astronauts Kathryn Thornton and Tom
Akers to replace wobbling solar panels
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Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
hardware. We certainly don’t want to mess up anything that
isn’t broken,” says astronaut Hoffman, an astronomer.
Despite its flaws, Hubble has revealed marvelous views of
the cosmos - storms on Saturn, colliding galaxies, “canni-
balistic” star clusters that feed on each other and potential
“black holes” where gravity is so dense that light can’t es-
cape.
High above Earth’s obscuring atmosphere, Hubble is the only
observatory that can study ultraviolet light, which is unaf-
fected by the mirror flaw and accounts for half of the tele-
scope’s work.
“It is true that (Hubble) as it presently exists is doing first-
class science and will continue doing it, but unless we make
these repairs it will not fulfill the dream,” says Hoffman.
“It can’t take us out to the edge of the universe, it can’t take
us back to the beginning of time. These philosophical ques-
tions which are so important to humanity are not going to
be solved unless we fix it.”
‘This program is going to be in the history books ... either
as a national disgrace or a great American comeback.’ - Ed
Weiler, Hubble scientist, NASA astronomer.
Monday, 12/6:
Third EVA with astronauts Musgrave and Hoffman to
install upgraded camera that photographs stars and galax-
ies.
Tuesday, 12/7:
Fourth EVA with astronauts Thornton and Akers to install
Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement
(COSTAR) and flight systems computer
Wednesday, 12/ 8:
Fifth EVA with astronauts Musgrave and Hoffman to re-
place electronic control units and install new fuses
Thursday, 12/9: Redeploy Hubble
Friday, 12/10: Crew rest day
Saturday, 12/11: Press conference from orbit
Sunday, 12/12: Landing at Kennedy Space Center
Page 3
Graphic by Marty Baumann, USA TODAY
Page 4
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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Four: The Rewards

The once-troubled Hubble flying high

Todd Halvorson, Florida Today
for USA TODAY Images of stars and galaxies came back blurry, and the prom-
December 26, 1995 ise of Hubble seemed to collapse. But two years later came
“The Big Fix.”
The Hubble Space Telescope once was the butt of late-night
television jokes. Nobody’s laughing now. In December 1993, astronauts outfitted Hubble with cor-
rective lenses, a more powerful planetary camera, new
The once myopic orbiting obser- power-producing solar arrays and
vatory, outfitted two years ago this equipment that would enable the
month with a $ 629 million pair of telescope to point with greater accu-
contact lenses, is more than living racy. “The scientific returns frankly
up to its prelaunch hype. have been fantastic,” Oswalt said.

The reasons include the discovery The stream of discoveries since Hub-
of another planet orbiting a star, ble’s repair includes:
proof that black holes exist and
stunning pictures of comet chunks — Black holes: These objects are
smashing into Jupiter. thought to have such a powerful
gravitational pull that nothing, not
“There’s no question that it’s be- even light, can escape their grasp.
come the flagship of American
astronomy,” said Terry Oswalt, Scientists theorized that black holes
a professor of physics and space are the engines that keep galaxies
science at the Florida Institute of and their billions of stars together.
Technology.
Soon after Hubble’s repair, astrono-
“Oh it’s so sweet,” said David mers focused it on M87, a galaxy 52
Orion Nebula Courtesty of NASA/Hubble Space Telescope
Leckrone, senior Hubble project million light-years from Earth. They
scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Green- found clear evidence of a black hole: a whirlpool of dust, gas
belt, Md. and stars being drawn into a pitch-black vortex, a galactic
core that had a mass equal to 3 billion suns.
“I mean, to feel like we’ve successfully come back from ad-
versity, it transcends science. It’s a personal thing.” — Cosmic hula hoops: One of the most intensely studied ce-
lestial objects in recent history has been Supernova 1987A,
Adversity for the $ 2 billion Hubble project began in June a star over the Southern Hemisphere that exploded 170,000
1990, two months after the launch of the space telescope light-years from Earth.
designed to enable astronomers to peer to the edge of the
universe. It was supposed to answer ancient questions about It wasn’t until Hubble zoomed in on it that astronomers
the age of the universe, and whether it would expand for- discovered giant, colorful rings orbiting the remains of the
ever or collapse upon itself in a “Great Crunch.” obliterated star. The glowing red loops rotated and wobbled
around the supernova core like mystical hula hoops.
Then came “spherical aberration” - NASA jargon for blurry
vision. — Smash hits on Jupiter: A trail of 21
comet chunks collided with Jupiter in
Devastated astronomers discovered that the telescope’s July 1994, leaving scientists in awe.
8-foot primary mirror had been ground ten-thousandths of
an inch too flat, or about one-fiftieth of the diameter of a
human hair. As a result, Hubble was as nearsighted as Mr.
Magoo.

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Four: The Rewards

The comet fragments hit Jupiter’s atmosphere at up to The gaseous towers, each 6 trillion miles long, resemble
130,000 mph, sending up mushroom clouds and fireballs stalagmites rising from a cavern floor.
930 miles high.
At their tips are finger-like protrusions, each of which holds
Destructive enough to vaporize a major metropolitan a newborn star in what astronomers named EGGs - Evapo-
area, the collisions were rating Gaseous Globules.
said to be similar to one that
hammered Earth 65 million While the Hubble is answering an-
years ago. It theoretically cient questions and confirming
sent up a massive cloud of long-held theories, it also is creating
ash that choked off sunlight conundrums.
and killed 70% of the species
living at the time, including Astronomers long have said the uni-
all dinosaurs. verse was created in a primordial
explosion called “The Big Bang” 15
— The birth of other planets: to 20 billion years ago. Hubble data
Hubble astronomers took have shown that stars in the Milky
pictures showing that at Way galaxy appear to be at least 12
least half the newborn stars billion to 14 billion years old. Recent
in the Orion Nebula are sur- observations, however, indicate the
rounded by flat, dusty round universe itself might only be 8 bil-
disks that could turn into lion to 9 billion years old.
planets.
“How can you have stars that are
“What we learned from that older than the universe?” Oswalt
is that the basic conditions in Orion Nebula Courtesty of NASA/Hubble Space Telescope said.
which planets might form might
be extremely common around newborn stars,” said Steve The puzzle is but one of the holy grails astronomers will
Maran, a Hubble project scientist at Goddard Space Flight be seeking during the next decade of star-hunting with
Center. “And that eventually could help us make a judg- Hubble, which is expected to operate in orbit until at least
ment on whether we are alone.” 2005.

— A star is born: Astronomers this fall witnessed the birth “The fact is that we’ve just barely scratched the surface,”
of stars within monstrous columns of gas and dust in the Maran said. “We have barely begun to look around.”
Eagle Nebula, a region 7,000 light-years away from Earth in
the constellation Serpens.

Page 2
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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Four: The Rewards
Technology used in Hubble telescope helps
detect breast cancer more accurately
Larry Wheeler, Gannett News Service
October 24, 1997
WASHINGTON — The same technology that allows the
Hubble space telescope to unlock secrets hidden in gal-
axies millions of light years away is already making breast
cancer detection more accurate and less painful on Earth.
Similarly, a robotic brain surgery device developed for use
by an astronaut physician on a future trip to Mars may
eventually allow doctors to perform even more precise
breast surgery procedures at less cost and with even bet-
ter outcomes.
Such is the promise of merging the technological prowess
of the nation’s civilian space agency with the medical ex-
pertise at the Department of Health and Human Services,
according to government officials.
“If we can see the surface of Mars with the Hubble space
telescope, then let’s get a dividend from our national in-
vestment in space by transferring technologies to improve
the early detection of breast cancer and to fight other dis-
eases in women,” said Dr. Susan Blumenthal, deputy as-
sistant secretary for women’s health issues and assistant
surgeon general for Health and Human Services.
Blumenthal and Henry McDonald, director of NASA’s Ames
Research Center, signed a cooperative agreement Thurs-
day to bring the two agencies closer together in the fight
against breast cancer and other women’s diseases.
NASA Administrator Dan Goldin suggested the agreement
should silence critics who question why U.S. astronauts
continue to serve aboard the crippled Russian space sta-
tion Mir and challenge spending billions on a new Interna-
tional Space Station.
“NASA ingenuity develops machines and methods to treat
sick astronauts on the way to the Moon and Mars,” Goldin
said. “We should also use that talent to make a concerted
effort to save our wives, mothers, sisters, daughters and
friends whose lives are affected by cancers and other dis-
eases.”
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In January, NASA plans to send its so-called bioreactor to
Mir where it will perform as a high-tech incubator for hu-
man breast cancer tissue. Researchers anticipate learning
much from the experiment designed to use the micrograv-
ity environment of space to foster tumor growth that can’t
be achieved in a flat, laboratory petri dish back on Earth.
The agreement provided no new funding for breast can-
cer research but instead created a cooperative framework
between NASA’s Ames Research Center in California and
the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office on
Women’s Health.
On display at the event in the Cannon House office building
and at a luncheon in the Capitol building were examples of
NASA-developed medical products under development or
already at work in hospitals.
Some examples:
— Digital imaging technology developed for Hubble is al-
ready working at more than 350 medical facilities inside
the LORAD Stereo Guide Breast Biopsy System which of-
fers women a quick and less painful method for determin-
ing if a breast lump is malignant. The procedure costs $850
vs. a traditional breast biopsy surgery charge of approxi-
mately $3,500.
-- An instrument designed to study the Earth’s atmosphere
from space is being converted to provide superior new im-
ages of the entire breast while accommodating different
tissue density. An instrument unhampered by tissue densi-
ty is important because younger women have more dense
breast tissue than older women.
— Technology that allows the Mars Pathfinder to deliver
crisp pictures is being modified to make three-dimension-
al models of breast tissue, giving physicians the ability to
differentiate between cancerous and healthy tissue with-
out painful, invasive procedures.
Several members of the Congressional Caucus on Women’s
Issues praised the agreement.
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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Four: The Rewards

“NASA already has an impressive record of transferring its
technological discoveries to the private sector,” said Rep.
Anna Eschoo, D-Calif., whose congressional district hosts
the Ames Research Center. “The new interagency agree-
ment will help refine the space agency’s technologies and
apply them to the specific health care needs of women,
such as cancer, reproductive health, osteoporosis and edu-
cation.”
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death of women ages
35 to 50 in the United States. Each year, more than 180,000
new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed and more than
500,000 breast biopsies are performed.
Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., and his wife, Priscilla, spoke at the
luncheon about their personal experiences with cancer and
the value of early detection and continued research.
Priscilla Mack described how she found a lump in her breast
by accident and urged women not to leave their health to
chance. Practice self-exams, see your physician at least
once a year and follow recommended breast exam guide-
lines, she said.
Mack later had reconstructive surgery. She is now a tireless
advocate for early detection.
Sen. Mack said his brother Michael’s 12-year struggle with
melanoma was the motivating factor that led him to seek
public office. After his brother’s death and shortly after win-
ning his senate seat, Mack himself found out he had mel-
anoma but survived because his cancer had been caught
early enough.
Mack said continued federally sponsored cancer research is
essential to beating the disease in all its forms. The Florida
Republican has introduced a resolution to double spending
on cancer research at the National Institutes of Health.
“We’ve got to double the NIH budget,” Mack said. “I don’t
want another husband, another brother to have to hear the
words I heard and go through what we went through.”

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Five: The Future Awaits
Daring Hubble repair plan awaits ‘go’
NASA to say today whether mission to fix telescope is on
Traci Watson, USA TODAY
October 31, 2006
5A
For 2 1/2 years, top NASA officials have fretted over whether
to send astronauts to revive the critically ill Hubble Space Tele-
scope.
The answer comes today, when NASA Administrator Michael
Griffin announces whether the space shuttle will pay a service
call to Hubble. If Griffin says yes, a flight to install two new sci-
entific instruments, fix a third and upgrade telescope systems
could launch as early as next winter.
Despite the uncertainty, NASA engineers and astronauts have
been quietly toiling on a plan to rescue the telescope.
Space agency personnel have created new Hubble repair tools.
They have outlined a rough mission schedule. And they have
developed new repair techniques in hopes of fixing one of
America’s most cherished scientific instruments.
The 2002 shuttle flight to Hubble, the most recent of four,
was tough enough, says astronaut John Grunsfeld, who made
spacewalks to fix the telescope in 1999 and 2002. “If that was
heart surgery, this time we’re planning to do brain surgery --
that next level of delicacy,” he says.
Some of the tasks on the flight, such as opening a door fastened
with more than 100 tiny screws, “would seem to be impos-
sible,” says astronaut Michael Massimino, who also did a space-
walk in 2002 to repair the telescope. “This one, I think, is about
as challenging as you can get,” Massimino says.
A bit of Velcro falling into the telescope’s guts could spoil its
vision. One misplaced nudge of a spacewalking astronaut’s foot
could derail a telescope that, while wounded, is still snapping
pictures of the cosmos.
“You want to be very, very careful,” says Massimino, yet “you
want to get as much done as you possibly can, because you’re
up there for a finite time.” He notes that the astronauts who
live on the space station can polish off chores that weren’t fin-
ished during spacewalks. Hubble has no such backup.
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Punishing work schedule
NASA has added new safety precautions to every shuttle flight
since shuttle Columbia disintegrated in 2003. Now every shut-
tle crew must spend an entire day in orbit inspecting the ship’s
thermal shield, a procedure that demands precious time and
fuel.
“The biggest challenge ... (is) how do we pack everything we
need to do to assure a safe vehicle into a typical Hubble mis-
sion?” says astronaut Joseph Tanner, whose four shuttle flights
included one to Hubble in 1997. “It’s not business like it used
to be.”
It was safety that led then-NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe
in 2004 to cancel the fifth shuttle mission to Hubble. Since the
Columbia accident, NASA has made sure that in an emergency,
every shuttle crew could hole up on the International Space
Station and wait for rescue by another shuttle. But a shuttle
visiting Hubble couldn’t reach the station, which follows a path
around the Earth more than 100 miles away from the Hubble’s
orbit.
O’Keefe’s decision meant curtains for Hubble, since no other
space vehicle in the world can stay in space long enough to
upgrade the telescope.
When Griffin took over the space agency in early 2005, he
changed course. NASA, he said, would send a shuttle to save
Hubble if the first flights after the Columbia accident went well.
The three flights since the accident -- one in 2005, another in
July, and one in September -- all returned safely to Earth.
The long to-do list for the next Hubble mission means that the
crew would probably make five spacewalks in five days. Mis-
sions to the station usually include only three spacewalks, with
a day of rest between them.
The punishing work schedule on a Hub-
ble mission, combined with the extra
task of inspecting the shuttle, adds up
to a “crew workload (that) is going to
be outrageous,” Grunsfeld says. “There’s
going to be no sleeping on this mission.”
That can lead to risky fatigue.
 The Hubble Legacy
Part Five: The Future Awaits
Reviving dead spectrograph
By far the most difficult task on a fifth Hubble flight would
be fixing the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, which
analyzes the light from distant objects in the cosmos. The
spectrograph, dead since 2004 because of a faulty elec-
tronics board, gives information on temperature and den-
sity. It was not designed to be fixed in orbit, posing these
challenges:
*The door to the compartment containing the faulty part
is held down by 111 tiny screws, which an astronaut in
a spacesuit would find nearly impossible to remove. Once
freed, the screws could easily float away and vanish into
the workings of the telescope.
Engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center devised a
special miniature screwdriver and a device that will im-
prove the astronauts’ aim as they work on the screws and
clamp onto them once they’re loose.
*The edges of the electronics board are sharp -- a peril to
the astronauts, whose spacesuits are inflated with air. That
means the spacewalkers can’t touch the board for fear of
puncturing their suits.
The board is held in place by locks akin to “Chinese fin-
ger handcuffs,” says Hubble program manager Preston
Burch. “As you pull on them, they get tighter and tighter.”
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On Earth, it may take an hour to coax one out. A “card-
puller” has been devised for the astronauts to use to yank
the board free.
*The spectrograph lies so deep inside Hubble that the as-
tronauts can’t work as usual. On a normal Hubble task, two
astronauts stand on the shuttle’s robotic arm, one doing
the work, and the second handing tools to the first.
The Hubble team now thinks the repair astronaut can
stand on a portable scaffold attached to the telescope. The
shuttle’s robot arm might hover nearby and act as a tool
caddy.
Because of the time pressure the astronauts face, the plan-
ning team has also worked on how to make the routine
Hubble chores easier.
Engineers have cooked up an alignment device that will
help the spacewalkers load Hubble with new scientific in-
struments, which have to be slid into their slots just so.
They’re building exact replicas of parts of the telescope so
the astronauts can practice their moves. They’re rethink-
ing how to load items on the shuttle, to cut the time spent
hunting for supplies.
“We don’t leave anything to chance,” Burch says. “We work
real hard to make sure that we can’t get fooled.”
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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Five: The Future Awaits

Source: NASA, Graphic: Bob Laird, USA TODAY

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Six: Critical Inquiry

Discussion Questions
Hubble: The Mission, The Lessons
1. Several of these articles describe how NASA Hubble Space Telescope scientists and engineers recovered from unex-
pected events and solved problems. Can you identify a set of problem-solving steps and processes that are evident
in more than one situation? What are the differences in the problem-solving steps/processes when the problem is
being solved on the ground (prior to a mission) and when the problem is being solved “real-time” on-orbit (using the
astronaut crew and ground support) during a mission?

2. Successful space missions, whether human or robotic, require many different technologies. What potential spin-off
benefits can you imagine as results from research and development in life support systems, robotics, telerobotics,
artificial intelligence, etc.?

3. How does the risk of servicing the Hubble compare to other types of spaceflight missions in terms of cost to the public
and risk of human life? How does it compare to other endeavors such as the Panama Canal, Brooklyn Bridge, Hoover
Dam, the Large Hadron Collider, etc.?

4. Should the Space Program focus on low-risk missions in order to gain the public’s trust or high-risk missions to inspire
the public? What are the pros and cons of each focus?

5. What Hubble “lessons learned” were applicable to the next servicing mission? How did the ongoing servicing of
Hubble, and the information gained from it, impact other human and robotic space missions?

6. One of the original purposes to be gained from the Hubble servicing missions was to test procedures that would be
used for building the International Space Station (ISS). In what ways has the servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope
impacted ISS, from influencing the public’s opinion of ISS to processes and procedures used in building it?

7. Do you agree that the Hubble Space Telescope was becoming a ‘national disgrace’? Were there built-in features of
Hubble that kept it from meeting this prediction? In spite of the primary mirror problem, what scientific advances
were still being made by the telescope before it was corrected on the First Servicing Mission?

Hubble: In Depth

1. When the trouble with the Hubble Space Telescope’s primary mirror was detected shortly after its launch in 1990,
NASA and the mirror manufacturer, Perkin-Elmer Corp., now Goodrich, were criticized for not testing the primary
and secondary mirrors together on earth. NASA estimated such a test would have been cost-prohibitive at that time.
This is an example of accepting technical risk (as opposed to risk to human life) vs. cost. When an important test is
prohibitively expensive, yet failure could compromise the entire program, what steps might a company, or agency
such as NASA, take to lessen the risk? Can such risk ever be eliminated completely?

2. What steps did NASA take to reduce risks in getting ready for the First Servicing Mission in 1993? Explain how these
risk-reduction measures apply to the International Space Station and other satellite and observatory programs.

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Six: Critical Inquiry

Hubble: In Depth (continued)

3. The article “Hubble: Astronomy’s time machine” touches on the decision to make Hubble serviceable by space-suited
astronauts operating from the Space Shuttle. Many astronomers would have preferred to put Hubble in a much higher
orbit, as are the other NASA Great Observatories. Discuss the costs of making Hubble serviceable. What would have
been the positive and negative results if Hubble had been put into a higher orbit that the Shuttle could not reach?

4. Take a look at current and future Great Observatory-type telescope missions and the different orbits they are in. What
factors determine the orbit necessary for each? What are the advantages of having observatories in different types of
orbits?

5. What might be the implications if the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is capable of traveling to some of these
orbits, keeping in mind that we have now performed many kinds of repairs on Hubble which were not originally an-
ticipated with pre-planned “built-in” features?

The Hubble Spirit

Less than three weeks prior to a scheduled October 2008 launch date for NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-125 mission
to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the fifth servicing mission, a significant Hubble anomaly occurred on orbit.
This caused a delay of the mission so that the problem could be properly understood, analyzed and solved. The “A” side
(there are two operating electronic sides (A and B)) of the science instrument command and data handling (SI C&DH)
unit had failed, affecting the storage and transmittal of data from Hubble to Earth. Hubble’s instruments automatically
went into safe mode.

In groups of three, research the impact of this event and develop three possible options for addressing the problem.
Consider the impact of each of these plans on the objectives for the STS-125 servicing mission to Hubble and the overall
objectives of the telescope. Discuss the potential impacts, advantages and disadvantages of each plan on the Hubble
Space Telescope servicing mission and the telescope’s operations. Finally, present a justification for your selection of the
best option among the three.

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Six: Critical Inquiry

Internet Resources
e NASA Home Page:
www.nasa.gov

e Hubble Servicing Mission 4:

www.nasa.gov/hubble

e NASA Hubble Program Main Page:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

e Introduction to Hubble Servicing Missions:

http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/intro.php

e NASA: A Brief History of the Hubble Space Telescope:

http://history.nasa.gov/hubble/index.html

e NASA Hubble Education Resources:

www.nasa.gov/education/hubble

e Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach:

http://oposite.stsci.edu

e Space Telescope Science Institute Hubble Essentials/General Interest:

http://hubblesite.org

e The Hubble Heritage Project:

http://heritage.stsci.edu

e The European Home Page for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope:
www.spacetelescope.org/about/history

e Books about Edwin Hubble:

www.edwinhubble.com

e The Best of the Hubble Telescope - Links to Hubble Images:

http://seds.org/hst/hst.html

e The Planetary Society - Space Topics Hubble Space Telescope:

http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/hubble/

All photos in the left “ears” of “The Hubble Legacy” are from the Hubble Space Telescope, Courtesy of NASA

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 The Hubble Legacy
Part Six: Critical Inquiry

Contributing Experts:
Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman - Astronaut, Professor of the Practice of Aerospace Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics;

Jeff has a bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Amherst College, a master’s degree in materials science from Rice Univer-
sity and a doctorate in astrophysics from Harvard University.

Jeff ’s fourth space flight was as an EVA crewmember on Hubble’s first servicing mission in 1993 (STS-61). He was one
of the four astronauts who performed a record five space walks, and has logged more than 1,211 hours and 21.5 million
miles in space.

Paul Richards - Astronaut, Hubble Manager/Engineer, Observatory Manager NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Paul has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University and a master’s degree in mechanical engi-
neering. from the University of Maryland.

Paul was Senior EVA Tool Development Engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Project; Project Manager for
HST EVA crew aids and tools and Program Manager for HST EVA hardware. He also served as systems engineering support
for the HST WETF/NBS Servicing Mission Simulations as a utility diver and EMU suited subject.

Dr. Kathryn Thornton - Astronaut, Professor and Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs, University of Virginia School
of Engineering and Applied Science

Kathy has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Auburn University and master’s and doctorate degrees in physics from the
University of Virginia.

Kathy served for 12 years as a NASA Astronaut, flying on four shuttle missions. including Hubble’s first servicing mission
in 1993 (STS-61), orbiting the Earth 256 times and traveling over 6 million miles in space.

Russell L. Werneth - Aerospace Engineer and Higher Education Advisor at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland

Russ has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park, MD
and a master’s degree in Engineering Administration from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

During the past four Hubble servicing missions, Russ served as the ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA, or spacewalk) Manager
or Crew Aids and Tools Manager. His responsibilities included EVA procedures and training, as well as unique astronaut
tool design, testing, and development.

Mike Weiss - Deputy Program Manager/Technical for the Hubble Space Telescope Program. Mike has led the techni-
cal development of all Hubble servicing missions. He has worked human and robotic space missions at NASA for over 30
years. Mike holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering.

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