1 00:00:00,410 --> 00:00:00,800 \h 2 00:00:01,020 --> 00:00:03,509 Mario Livio, Astrophysicist/Space Telescope Science Institute: Ask anybody the name of a 3 00:00:03,510 --> 00:00:03,640 telescope, Hubble is the name that always comes up. 4 00:00:06,780 --> 00:00:09,559 Todd Halvorson, Space Reporter/Florida Today: The public, the general public seems to have a 5 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:11,160 love affair with Hubble. 6 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:12,829 Mario Livio, Astrophysicist/Space Telescope Science Institute: I mean, this is the telescope 7 00:00:12,830 --> 00:00:18,630 that everybody recognizes, recognizes the images from this telescope and recognizes its 8 00:00:19,530 --> 00:00:25,596 importance, you know, to literally, you know, everybody's life in the sense of inspiration. 9 00:00:27,090 --> 00:00:29,033 President Barack Obama: And I should point out, by the way, that in my private office just off the 10 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,413 Oval, I’ve got the picture of Jupiter from the Hubble. 11 00:00:36,700 --> 00:00:37,700 (Music) 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:49,029 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: Twenty years after launching 13 00:00:49,030 --> 00:00:50,366 on a space shuttle and opening its instruments to the farthest reaches of space, NASA's Hubble 14 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:54,363 Space Telescope has become synonymous with exploration, discovery and even a bit of luck. 15 00:00:59,490 --> 00:01:01,079 Mario Livio, Astrophysicist/Space Telescope Science Institute: One of the things that Hubble 16 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:07,746 has done is it really taught us something about our place in the universe and our role within it. We 17 00:01:08,670 --> 00:01:08,910 want to know, how did the universe start? How did our galaxy start? How did the Earth start? How 18 00:01:14,830 --> 00:01:20,430 did life on Earth start? And we also want to know, how will all of these things end? 19 00:01:26,090 --> 00:01:28,749 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: When the telescope arrived, there was a lot of 20 00:01:28,750 --> 00:01:35,350 anticipation because there was so much extraordinary effort required at KSC in order to assure that 21 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:39,223 the telescope was going to be able to maintain in the kind of environment that it had to be. And that 22 00:01:44,230 --> 00:01:50,496 meant a cleanliness standard that was extremely pristine, far beyond anything that we had ever 23 00:01:51,250 --> 00:01:52,316 launched before. 24 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:55,419 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center With years of design and 25 00:01:55,420 --> 00:01:57,260 construction behind it, along with months more of processing, the Hubble was sealed inside 26 00:01:59,580 --> 00:02:00,870 Discovery for liftoff. The Hubble Space Telescope flew into the national consciousness on April 24, 27 00:02:04,890 --> 00:02:08,623 1990, inside the payload bay of space shuttle Discovery. 28 00:02:10,490 --> 00:02:12,673 Todd Halvorson, Space Reporter/Florida Today: The launching of the telescope itself was a 29 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:20,040 huge deal because the Hubble Space Telescope was long-awaited and it was supposed to be 30 00:02:20,780 --> 00:02:24,713 launched in the year that the Challenger accident happened. 31 00:02:26,470 --> 00:02:28,289 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: Hubble was different from 32 00:02:28,290 --> 00:02:30,510 land-based observatories because it would operate from a point hundreds of miles above the 33 00:02:32,070 --> 00:02:38,670 distorting effects of Earth's atmosphere. Though its 94-and-a-half-inch mirror is small compared to 34 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:39,546 those built on the ground, the telescope is huge by spacecraft standards. At more than 43 feet long, 35 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:51,080 the telescope took up most of the shuttle's payload bay. But as large as Hubble was, it was sent up 36 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:52,276 with a tiny flaw in its main mirror. It was an imperfection less than the width of a human hair, but it 37 00:02:58,590 --> 00:02:58,806 was enough to blur Hubble's images and leave the observatory's potential in doubt. 38 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:10,040 Todd Halvorson, Space Reporter/Florida Today: To find out two months after launch that it was 39 00:03:10,340 --> 00:03:13,940 launched with a misshapen mirror was crushing to NASA. 40 00:03:16,230 --> 00:03:18,160 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: When the telescope had its spherical aberration 41 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:26,700 needed glasses, we had already built expectations to the point where that they were expecting to 42 00:03:27,540 --> 00:03:28,886 see these kind of things right away. When in fact, even if the telescope had worked, it was going to 43 00:03:32,860 --> 00:03:39,326 take astronomers a considerable amount of time to get some of that data and then to see what else 44 00:03:40,510 --> 00:03:40,870 Hubble was going to find that we didn't know about. 45 00:03:43,550 --> 00:03:46,159 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: The telescope was quite 46 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,226 powerful even with the flaw, but NASA knew it would have to fix it. So engineers set out to build 47 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,626 Hubble a set of contact lenses. 48 00:03:54,290 --> 00:03:56,899 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: So, I think that was our, probably our biggest 49 00:03:56,900 --> 00:04:03,366 challenge was to try to make people realize that these things were still going to happen. We just 50 00:04:04,170 --> 00:04:06,903 needed a little time to fix this problem. 51 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:08,740 Todd Halvorson, Space Reporter/Florida Today: Being able to restore the Hubble Space 52 00:04:11,180 --> 00:04:17,646 Telescope's observational capabilities was incredibly to the agency and they put together a great 53 00:04:19,210 --> 00:04:20,210 plan to do it. 54 00:04:21,980 --> 00:04:23,269 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: Astronauts made five back- 55 00:04:23,270 --> 00:04:23,633 to-back spacewalks during the repair mission, a first. They spent more than 35 hours working on 56 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:29,623 the telescope in the payload bay. The Hubble repair had effects reaching beyond the telescope's 57 00:04:35,190 --> 00:04:36,256 health, as well. 58 00:04:37,220 --> 00:04:39,759 Todd Halvorson, Space Reporter/Florida Today: This mission wasn't just about restoring the 59 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:45,893 Hubble Space Telescope, it was about whether NASA had the capability to go off and build the 60 00:04:45,940 --> 00:04:47,806 International Space Station. 61 00:04:48,970 --> 00:04:52,013 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: The problem was fixed to the extent that it never 62 00:04:52,060 --> 00:04:59,126 occurs to anybody to even think about it anymore because the results are just so dramatic from the Hubble. 63 00:04:59,770 --> 00:05:05,370 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: The first images from the 64 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:06,743 telescope proved the servicing achieved its goal. The space telescope was free to look into the 65 00:05:10,950 --> 00:05:17,483 farthest distances ever seen, nearly as far back as the beginning of the universe. Astronauts made 66 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:20,430 four more servicing flights to the Hubble Space Telescope to upgrade its instruments and replace 67 00:05:23,890 --> 00:05:25,223 critical components. 68 00:05:26,010 --> 00:05:28,963 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: We did it in a way that we knew it was the last time 69 00:05:29,390 --> 00:05:30,626 we were ever going to visit the telescope, and we had to do everything to it that we wanted to do if 70 00:05:34,820 --> 00:05:41,353 we wanted it to last a lot longer. So that made it more complex and when the mission was over, the 71 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:44,033 feeling was, we'd done it. 72 00:05:44,390 --> 00:05:44,990 Todd Halvorson, Space Reporter/Florida Today: They have seen different worlds for the very 73 00:05:49,790 --> 00:05:55,990 first time through the eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope and its really expanded the general 74 00:05:56,490 --> 00:05:56,730 public's view of the universe, how the universe began, what the ultimate fate of the universe is 75 00:06:02,650 --> 00:06:09,250 going to be. It has ignited, it just has ignited the imagination of the collective American public. 76 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:18,379 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: The space telescope repaid 77 00:06:18,380 --> 00:06:24,380 each mission with more incredible views of space that all could see and appreciate. Hubble 78 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:24,920 observations astounded researchers by showing the universe was not only expanding, it was speeding up. 79 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,339 Mario Livio, Astrophysicist/Space Telescope Science Institute: Imagine your amazement if 80 00:06:33,340 --> 00:06:39,673 when I throw these keys up, you would suddenly see these keys accelerate in toward the ceiling. 81 00:06:39,980 --> 00:06:46,446 This is what we discovered. This was extraordinarily surprising and it led to this notion of dark 82 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,533 energy that is pushing on the universe to accelerate. 83 00:06:51,070 --> 00:06:53,263 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: Once we began to get things back from Hubble, the 84 00:06:55,010 --> 00:06:56,256 scientists were beginning to see physical processes going on that they didn't really understand, and 85 00:07:00,430 --> 00:07:02,496 hadn't been able to see before. 86 00:07:03,050 --> 00:07:04,399 Lisa Malone, Public Affairs Director/Kennedy Space Center: Twenty years after opening 87 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:10,866 a new eye on the universe, Hubble continues to dazzle by reaching farther back in time and space. 88 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,090 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: The light that we're just now receiving from some of 89 00:07:14,710 --> 00:07:15,000 these galaxies and different objects show younger and younger galaxies and stars, the light from 90 00:07:20,820 --> 00:07:27,220 which, when they left that galaxy, the Earth hadn't even been formed yet. That's how far back in 91 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:30,986 time Hubble is seeing. 92 00:07:31,710 --> 00:07:33,113 Mario Livio, Astrophysicist/Space Telescope Science Institute: We're talking about questions 93 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:40,173 that a few tens of years ago we didn't even know to ask. 94 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:43,310 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: The whole thing, it's a very storied program from the 95 00:07:46,450 --> 00:07:49,850 very first launch until the last servicing mission.