Apr 24 2000
From The Space Library
NASA and the science community celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the deployment of the HST. During its decade in space, the HST had enabled astronomers to make hundreds of discoveries. According to NASA, the HST's "rapid-fire rate of discoveries and cosmic images has profoundly changed the science of astronomy, and astounded and inspired people around the world." The U.S. Postal Service and NASA unveiled a series of five stamps designed to commemorate the HST's decade of contributions. The images on the stamps would not have been possible without the HST's power, which enabled it to capture images of the Eagle Nebula, Ring Nebula, Lagoon Nebula, Egg Nebula, and Galaxy NGC 1316. NASA held a series of events to celebrate the anniversary. Hubble's 10 years in space had not begun smoothly, as many critics of the program had been quick to point out. As the Baltimore Sun remembered, the HST was "once the butt of late-night talk-show jokes," because a flawed mirror initially had prevented the telescope from focusing. However, after a series of costly repairs, the HST had produced a litany of awe-inspiring images. The HST made more than 271,000 observations in its first 10 years, with another decade of usefulness anticipated. HST Project Scientist David S. Leckrone of NASA's GSFC summarized the HST's impact, "Not since Galileo aimed a small, 30-power telescope into the night sky in 1609 has humanity's vision of the universe been so revolutionized in such a short time span by a single instrument.”
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