Named after the astronomy Edwin Hubble, this long overdue space-
based telescope was put into orbit…and it didn’t work courtesy
of a lens ground to the wrong specification (the media probably
got this wrong, effective telescopes after Newton use mirrors
because chromatic aberration rendered lenses impractical). How
it served as fodder for late-night comedy for a while. I was
still in college and more involved with my girlfriend Carrie at
the time to recall many details. Heck, I was surprised it was
finally launched because I remember it being on the agenda since
the long-delayed space shuttle Columbia finally got going in
1981. I think Hubble was scheduled for 1987 but the Challenger
accident grounded everything for a while. ABC didn’t go into
great detail, the focus was more on Americans returning to space
for the first time since the Ford Administration. NASA got it
repaired in 1993 and then lots of great stuff was captured
through it. I remember NPR doing a piece saying Hubble had
proposed the universe to b