The Hubble Telescope is a low-orbit telescope in the high Earth atmosphere. The fathers of modern rocketry, Hermann Oberth, Robert Goddard, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published The Rocket into Planetary Space, in 1923, which mentioned sending a telescope to space for one of the first times in history. The purpose of the telescope was to provide sharper images for astronomers to study. While much larger telescopes reside on Earth, the pictures that the Hubble Telescope sends back are much better because the telescope is above the interference caused by the atmosphere. And while the Hubble Telescope is not the first or the only Earth-orbit telescope, it was the first scientific space telescope. All of the other telescopes are pointed in towards Earth as military reconnaissance telescopes. The original launch date was set for 1983, but the actual launch date was April 24, 1990, due to various problems with funding, construction of the telescope, and the Challenger disaster. The launch commenced with only one slight delay, when the computer didn’t shut off a fuel valve. It was disconnected manually and the launch continued. After that minor hiccup, the shuttle, carrying the telescope and the five astronauts, Loren Shriver, Charles Bolden Jr, Steven Hawley, Bruce McCandlless II, and Kathryn Sullivan embarked on a journey to space from the John F. Kennedy Space Center. A few months after the launch, the scientists and technicians analyzing the data and photos sent back realized that there was a serious flaw in the telescope. The main mirror had been polished down one-tenth of the width of a human hair too far. The result of this perfect imperfection was that the images coming down to Earth were no better than the images of the best te... ... middle of paper ... ...ted to continue to do so until 2014, it will be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is predicted to be launched sometime around 2018. This telescope is also larger than the Hubble, at 6.5 meters in diameter mirror compared to Hubble’s 2.4 meters in diameter mirror. This will allow the James Webb to collect more light than Hubble did and therefore and have a wider range of ability in it’s photo capturing. Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/deploy.php http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm1.php http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm2.php http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm3a.php http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm3b.php http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm4.php http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-61.html
It was on January 28, 1986 at 11:38 A.M. that the shuttle Challenger, NASA flight 51-L, the twenty-fifth shuttle flight, took off. It was the "Teacher in Space" mission. At lift-off, the temperature at ground level was 36° Fahrenheit, which was 15° Fahrenheit cooler than any previous launch by NASA. It was the Challenger's tenth flight. Take-off had been delayed several times. Finally the shuttle had taken off. The shuttle had climbed high in the sky thirty-five seconds after take-off, and it was getting hit by strong winds. The on board computers were making continuous adjustments so the shuttle would stay on course. About eight miles in the air, about seventy-two seconds after take-off, people watched in fear and horror as the shuttle was engulfed by a huge fire ball. All the crew members were killed instantly.
Dumoulin, Jim. "Apollo 11." Kennedy Space Center Launching A Vision. 12 Dec. 2001. 13 Dec. 2001 <http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/>.
The second and final suborbital mission of the Mercury Project was launched on July 21, 1961. Gus Grissom navigated his ship, Liberty Bell 7, through flight for just 15 seconds longer than the previous mission. The next Mercury flight was accomplished using an Atlas booster. On February 20, 1962 it fired up and launched John Glenn, Jr., inside Friendship 7, into orbit. Glenn orbited Earth three times and when he returned the country celebrated.
The Challenger space shuttle was originally scheduled to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center on January 22, 1986; however, due to delays with the previous mission, issues with the weather, and failure of some mechanical and electrical components, the launch was delayed until January 28, 1986 [2].
The Hubble space telescope is a deep space imager used by NASA to explore space. It collects light and magnifies images, and gives Astronomers the most detailed images known to man. Hubble has been at work since April 25, 1990, and celebrated its 20th anniversary in orbit April 24, 2010. Twenty years in service, and still being the leading source for space news says a lot about Hubble's overall longevity and productiveness. Over 6000 scientific articles have been published based on Hubble data, with some of its discoveries being so significant that NASA would have needed multiple satellite missions to accomplish the same results. Its importance to me is based on my lifelong interest in astronomy, and the galaxy we live in. It's importance to others, such as NASA and Astronomers around the world, is due to the fact that Hubble is currently the leading source for new information and ground-breaking discoveries when it comes to deep space, But after a stalled launch in 1985, 5 repair missions since it's beginning, and billions of dollars in funding, I asked myself: Is Hubble worth it? As part of my research for this question I read two article related to the Hubble space telescope: An article from NASA’s official website titled ‘Hubble: The Essentials’ and an article from the New York Times titled ‘Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost’ by Stephen J. Dubner. Both articles played a direct part in my question and its answer: What does Hubble do? And is it worth the cost?
The first flight of the Columbia, also known as STS-1 (Space Transportation System One), was launched on April 12, 1981, as a test flight of the combined performance of the external tank, the shuttle itself, and the solid rocket boosters ...
2, Alter Dinsmore, Cleminshaw H. Clarence, Philips G John. Pictorial Astronomy. United States: Sidney Feinberg, 1963.
The Orion Nebula is a spectacular sight. Consequently, it has been a preferred target of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) over recent years. The HST has provided a great deal of insight into the complicated process of star formation. In June of 1994, C.
The main thrust that the project received was from the launch of Sputnik I. With the Soviets now seemingly ahead, the author explains how the project was taken away from the Air Force who was failing with the WS-117L and passed the mission onto the CIA for the development of the Corona satellites. Peebles explains that the difference between the two programs is that the WS-117L promised almost real-time through radio-transmitted imagery while the Corona missions would drop the film from the nose cone for development.
NASA had originally wanted to launch the Hubble in 1983 but because of multiple program problems it was delayed. The Hubble’s imagining mirror was completed in 1981 but the rest of the optical assembly was not finished until 1984. Finally in December of ...
In the past years, many space probes have been launched for many different reasons. They have visited all of the planets in our solar system besides Pluto. The earliest space probes to be launched in the United States were the Mariner Series. They investigated Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The Mariner II flew within 35,400 km of the surface of Venus. (1) It sent information back to Earth about Venus’s atmosphere, rotation period, and information on its magnetic field. Mariner 10 has been the only space probe to reach Mercury so far. Another space probe, Helios I came within
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were both spacecrafts that were launched to Jupiter. Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, and Voyager 1 was launched 2 weeks later on September 5, 1977.
A telescope is a device used to magnify distant objects. Telescopes can be used to look at things on earth or at objects in space. The telescopes for use on the earth are known as terrestrial telescopes and the telescopes for looking into space are known as astronomical telescopes.
The microscope which is invented and developed by much different scientist overtime is one of the most important tools a scientist especially in the biology and chemistry study can use. It made an impact in how we view life and learn more about the nature of diseases that had plague mankind for years. The microscope is mainly a tool biologist use but it has many uses for those studying chemistry.
This telescope is the result of an international collaboration of 17 countries lead by NASA, European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency. It will help us determine the geometry of the universe and enable us to establish whether the universe will expand forever.