- Introduction to Hubble - The Current Science Instruments -
Mission Operations and Observations - Previous Instruments -
Technical Overview Introduction to Hubble The Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) is a cooperative program of the European Space
Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) to operate a space-based observatory for
the benefit of the international astronomical community. HST is
an observatory first envisioned in the 1940s, designed and built
in the 1970s and 80s, and operational since the 1990. Since its
preliminary inception, HST was designed to be a different type
of mission for NASA -- a long-term, space-based observatory. To
accomplish this goal and protect the spacecraft against
instrument and equipment failures, NASA planned on regular
servicing missions. Hubble has special grapple fixtures, 76
handholds, and is stabilized in all three axes. HST is a
2.4-meter reflecting telescope, which was deployed in low-Earth
orbit (600 kilometers) by the crew of the space s