Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Missions

NASA astronauts undertook five complex servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, repairing its flawed mirror and upgrading instruments, significantly extending its operational life beyond expectations.

The top 3

  1. Hubble's Blurry Vision Fixed: The Crucial First Mission: Servicing Mission 1 (1993) was paramount, installing the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) to correct the primary mirror's spherical aberration, which was off by 2.2 microns, making images clear.
  2. Most Powerful Upgrades: SM3B and Final SM4 Instruments: Servicing Mission 3B (2002) installed the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), increasing Hubble's discovery power tenfold, while the final Servicing Mission 4 (2009) added the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), significantly extending its observational capabilities across UV, visible, and infrared wavelengths.
  3. Hubble's Toughest Test: STS-125's Unprecedented Challenges: The fifth and final servicing mission, STS-125 in 2009, was deemed the most ambitious and risky. Astronauts undertook unprecedented repairs on instruments like ACS and STIS, which were not designed for in-orbit servicing, battling stripped screws and stubborn bolts, all while a rescue shuttle stood by due to the mission's remote orbit without an ISS safe haven.

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