![]() ![]() ![]() The final service mission was during space shuttle Atlantis STS-125. There have been five missions to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope after its launch. Some of that power is reserved for when Hubble is in Earth’s shadow in orbit. The sun powers Hubble through solar cells on each winged array. Hubble has orbited Earth over 175,200 times in its 30 years of operation. Hubble orbits Earth about 340 miles/547 kilometers above its surface. It takes approximately 95 minutes to complete one trip around Earth. Hubble travels at a speed of 17,500 miles/27,300 kilometers per hour as it orbits Earth. The other three are/were the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Hubble is one of NASA’s four Great Observatories. That equates to about the width of a human hair seen from 1 mile away! It must focus without moving 7/1000th of an arcsecond. Hubble detects visible, near-infrared and ultraviolet light. That is why Hubble is in orbit beyond our atmosphere- to get a clearer picture than what Earth telescopes can capture. Our atmosphere blocks some wavelengths and blurs Earth telescope’s images. Hubble is a joint international project between NASA and the European Space Agency. It launched on Apand was deployed one day later, April 25. Hubble launched aboard space shuttle Discovery on STS-31 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Hubble’s history dates back to the 1940s! In 1946, Lyman Spitzer wrote a paper about the advantages of studying astronomy from space and he presented the idea of a “Large Space Telescope.” The first group began work on this Large Space Telescope in 1974. The NASA Hubble Space Telescope was named after astronomer Edwin Hubble who studied distant galaxies.Be sure to check out the related links for more photos and resources to expand your understanding. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been looking out into the universe for 30 years! In honor of this milestone anniversary, here are 30 facts about Hubble and its discoveries. ![]()
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