Episode 2: An Unexpected Journey – With five servicing missions, upgraded instruments, and new ways of operating, Hubble is not the same telescope it was when it launched. Discover the innovative ways astronomers and engineers use Hubble today.

Video Transcript:

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Because the Hubble Space Telescope is so scientifically effective right now, scientists are using Hubble to investigate some of the deepest mysteries of the universe.

One of the primary things Hubble has been doing is looking at the atmospheres around exoplanets.

If you had asked the guys who built Hubble and designed Hubble, they would have sworn that Hubble could never ever do this.

That’s one of the things I love about Hubble is that it ends up giving us new questions, new mysteries to explore.

Hubble In The Sky

Episode 2: An Unexpected Journey

My name is Larry Dunham. I’m the chief systems engineer for flight systems here on the Hubble Space Telescope.

I started on the Hubble program back in the summer of 1982, when Hubble was being built out in California. First telescope, in space, to be designed so that we’ve got what we call orbital replacement units. They’re modular boxes with handrails on them so the astronauts can go up and just pick and play. They’ve got nice connectors on them that make it easy for the astronauts with their big gloves to be able to put them in and out.

We’ve had five servicing missions. We have replaced some equipment multiple times, especially the instruments. We’re always going with the advanced technology.

The telescope we have today on orbit is not the telescope that we launched originally.[…]

Source: Hubble: An Unexpected Journey [Eye in the Sky Video Miniseries]