The Hubble Telescope's Journey

1923: Famed rocket scientist Hermann Oberth publishes an article speculating on telescopes in orbit.
1946: Astronomer Lyman Spitzer writes a report entitled the "Astronomical Advantages of an Extra-terrestrial Observatory,"
          in which he discusses the feasibility of building, launching, and operating a satellite observatory.
1957: Russians launch first satellite, Sputnik.
1958: Congress creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian space agency.
1962: A National Academy of Sciences study group recommends a large space telescope as a long-range goal of NASA.
1968: NASA successfully launches OAO-II, a small space observatory that orbited Earth for 41/2 years,
          measuring ultraviolet emissions of galaxies, stars, planets, and comets.
1969: The National Academy of Sciences publishes the "Scientific Uses of the Large Space Telescope" and approves the
          telescope project.
1971: The Large Space Telescope Science Steering Group is established and begins feasibility studies for a 3-meter space
          telescope.
1975: The European Space Agency agrees to participate in the project. The telescope's size is reduced to 2.4 meters.
1977: Congress approves the budget for a space telescope. Lockheed Missiles and Space Company wins the contract to
          design and build the telescope. Perkins-Elmer is awarded the contract to construct the optical telescope assembly,
          which includes the 2.4-meter primary mirror, the secondary mirror, and the three fine guidance sensors.
1979: Astronauts begin underwater training with telescope mockup.
1981: The Space Telescope Science Institute is established as the telescope's science operations center on the campus of
          the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.
1983: The telescope is named the Hubble Space Telescope after renowned astronomer Edwin P. Hubble.
1986: The telescope's launch is delayed after the Challenger accident. The telescope is kept in storage at Lockheed.
1989: The telescope is shipped from Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in California to the Kennedy Space Center
          in Florida.
1990: Hubble is launched aboard space shuttle Discovery.
1990: After analyzing Hubble's first pictures in June, astronomers discover that the telescope has "blurred vision," caused
          by a slight distortion in the 2.4-meter primary mirror.
1990: The telescope resolves a ring of material around Supernova 1987A.
1992: Hubble identifies nearby intergalactic clouds.
1993: The orbiting observatory discovers protoplanetary disks in the Orion Nebula.
1993: The first servicing mission takes place. Astronauts add a corrective optics system to fix the telescope's myopic vision.
1994: Hubble provides a detailed view of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy collision with Jupiter; offers definitive confirmation
          of the existence of supermassive black holes; reveals details of Pluto's surface; and captures a close-up look at jets
          and disks in young stellar objects.
1995: Through the "eyes" of Hubble, a brown dwarf star is seen clearly. Another observation, called the Hubble Deep Field,
          allows astronomers to see to the edge of the universe.
1996: Hubble resolves the host galaxies of quasars.
1997: The second servicing mission takes place. Astronauts install two new science instruments.
1997: Hubble identifies exotic populations of stars in globular clusters; sees the visible afterglow of a gamma-ray burst in a
          distant galaxy; and provides preliminary evidence for an accelerating universe from supernova observations.
1998: The orbiting observatory detects a shock wave of debris striking a ring of material around Supernova 1987A.
1999: Hubble observations allow astronomers to refine the universe's expansion rate to within 10 percent accuracy.
1999: The third servicing mission takes place. Astronauts replace the telescope's six gyroscopes, which help the orbiting
          observatory point at celestial objects.