posted 04-24-2020 12:00 AM               

30 notable objects that launched with the Hubble Space Telescope 30 years ago

Thirty years ago, NASA's space shuttle Discovery lifted off on a mission to release into orbit what would become the world's most famous science instrument, the Hubble Space Telescope.

Launched on April 24, 1990, the orbiting observatory was one of the largest items that the shuttle ever carried into space over the course of its 135 missions. The realization that came after the Hubble was deployed that its mirror was flawed and then the later astronaut-performed upgrades that made possible the telescope's astronomical revelations, captured more than just the universe at which it was pointed, but also the attention and adoration of the public like no other apparatus has to date.

The Hubble Space Telescope's deployment also dwarfed, literally and figuratively, everything else that was on board Discovery for the STS-31 mission.