 |
Repairs to the Hubble Telescope |
by Mya Kagan (whyzz writer) >> more about the author
In 1990, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a very special space telescope known as the Hubble. The Hubble is used by NASA for collecting information about outer-space, such as taking pictures of stars and galaxies, helping to measure black holes, and collecting light using a special mirror. The Hubble orbits the Earth about 350-400 miles above our planet.
One of the most unique things about the Hubble Telescope is that it was the first space telescope ever built which allows astronauts to make repairs to it while it’s still up in outer-space! Since its initial launch in 1990, the Hubble has had four Servicing Missions; the most recent of these was during May 2009!
In the May 2009 Servicing Mission, NASA astronauts worked on fixing several things, such as repairing a device that helps with measuring black holes and installing a new wide-field camera. While some of the more technologically challenging repairs ended up going quite smoothly, the astronauts found that it was some of the seemingly “easier” repairs which ended up being more difficult! Specifically, there was a problem during one repair-session with stripped bolt that ended up being so stubborn that the astronauts had to just rip off the handle attached to the bolt!
The repairs that were completed in this fourth servicing mission are meant to be the final repairs needed on the Hubble until at least the year 2014 at which point NASA plans to launch its next telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope!