Title

Deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, 1990. Artist: Unknown

Caption

Deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, 1990. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was put into orbit from the Space Shuttle Discovery, mission STS-31 on 24 April 1990. HST, still in the grip of the shuttle's robot arm, is backdropped against Cuba and the Bahamas. HST was designed to see seven times further into space than had been possible before, without the distortion caused by the earth's atmosphere. Problems with its giant mirror meant that it did not initially work as well as expected. Corrective optics were installed in 1993, greatly improving the telescope's performance, enabling it to view the Universe in unprecedented detail.
Oxford Science Archive

Date

1990

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/NASA

Reference

HRM19B63_284

Model release

No

License type

Rights managed

Available size

48,9Mb (3,7Mb) / 12,3in x 15,5in / 3680 x 4649 (300dpi)

Keywords

technology optical Cuba space exploration science space shuttle telescope astronomy color colour Bahamas innovation experiment century concept robot spacecraft orbit natural phenomena space travel NASA Nineties Hubble Space Telescope 20th century Space Shuttle Discovery Oxford Science Archive 1990s decade Mission STS-31 North and Central America reflecting telescope space mission TGN photograph Unknown National Aeronautics and Space Administration HST photograph