Fixing Hubble

ENDEAVOUR: Endeavour has a firm handshake with Mister Hubble’s telescope. CAPCOM: We copy that, Covey, and there are smiles galore down here. ENDEAVOUR: It’s quite a sight.

Twenty years ago today, astronauts were hard at work on NASA’s most ambitious mission since the Moon landings — and perhaps the most critical to the agency’s future. They were giving Hubble Space Telescope corrective lenses — a project designed to turn it from a national joke to a national treasure.

Hubble had been launched in 1990. As it began looking at the stars, though, scientists realized that its vision was blurred. There was a tiny error in the shape of its main mirror.

Engineers quickly came up with a plan to bring its vision up to spec: Astronauts would install new optics that would bring Hubble’s view into sharp focus.

Space shuttle Endeavour grabbed the telescope on December 4th, 1993. Over the next few days, its crew, led by Richard Covey, installed the corrective optics and a new camera, as well as