Hubble Space Telescope in Cargo Bay

This photograph shows the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) installed in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery for the STS-31 mission at the Kennedy Space Center prior to launch on April 24, 1990. Hubble was the first of NASA's great observatories and the most complex and sensitive optical telescope ever made. The purpose of Hubble is to study the cosmos from a low Earth orbit by placing the telescope in space, enabling astronomers to collect data that is free of Earth's atmosphere. The Marshall Space Flight Center had overall responsibility for design, development, and construction of the observatory. The Perkin-Elmer Corporation in Danbury, Connecticut, developed the optical system and guidance sensors. The Lockheed Missile and Space Company, Sunnyvale, California, produced the protective outer shroud and spacecraft systems, and assembled and tested the finished telescope. Date Created: 1990-04-01