Without question, the Hubble Space Telescope is a marvel of technology. NASA and the scientific community recently celebrated the Hubble’s 35th anniversary, as well they should, considering the scientific discoveries the space telescope has garnered, not to mention the hauntingly beautiful images it has produced.

The concept of a space telescope dates back decades. NASA funding started in the 1970s, before the space shuttle became operational. After numerous technical delays, not to mention those caused by the Challenger disaster, the space shuttle Discovery finally launched the Hubble on April 24, 1990.

The Hubble was designed to be serviced and enhanced by the space shuttles, which turned out to be fortunate. Shortly after the Hubble became operational, scientists discovered, to their horror, that a flaw in its mirror had greatly impaired the images the space telescope returned.

Rather than abandon the Hubble, NASA fixed the problem.

The first servicing mission, undertaken by the space shuttle Endeavour in December 1993, carried out several repairs and enhancements. They included replacing the High Speed Photometer with the COSTAR corrective optics package, and replacing the Wide Field and Planetary Camera with the Wide Field........

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