Hubble Telescope Essay

In April of 2015, the Hubble Space Telescope celebrated the 25th anniversary of its launch from the Kennedy Space Center in 1990. Despite its success, Hubble has seen its share of setbacks throughout its history. Astronomer Lyman Spitzer Jr. first conceived the idea of a telescope in space in 1947, but it took another thirty years before it came true (Overbye). After twelve years of building, Hubble was ready, and was set to launch in 1983. However, technical delays forced the launch to be pushed back until 1986. Tragically, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that killed seven in January of 1986 delayed the launch for another four years (Wilford). Within a few days of the launch, a new problem arose for Hubble. The images that were sent back revealed that the telescope was out of
Without these repairs, Hubble was doomed. In 2008, the new NASA administrator Michael Griffin cited changes made in the shuttle program and announced a service mission to repair the Hubble telescope (Holusha). In 2009, the Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched, marking the final mission to the Hubble telescope. In its twenty-five years, the Hubble telescope has taken many new images. My favorite is the Sombrero Galaxy, partly because of its name. The Majestic Sombrero Galaxy, or M104, is an spiral galaxy in the Virgo constellation, some 28 million light years from Earth. Named after the Mexican hat, the Sombrero Galaxy is tilted edge-on and spans 50,000 light-years across, while its bright core is surrounded by thick lanes of dust. (Space Telescope, HubbleSite) In 1990, the U.S. federal government collected $1.56 trillion in tax revenues and spent a total of $1.89 trillion. This resulted in a deficit of $333 billion that was 3.7% of its total GDP of $8.92 trillion (United States Federal Budget). Also completed in 1990, the Hubble telescope cost $1.5 billion to build (Redd). As of 2010, Hubble has cost the United States about $10