The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into earth orbit twenty years ago yesterday. I’m a day late but couldn’t let the date pass without mention.
Twenty years of awe-inspiring views and photos of deep space, from our own solar system to far, far beyond. The superlatives describing Hubble’s contributions to our knowledge of the universe were exhausted years ago, so I’ll leave further contemplation to you, the reader.
Happy Birthday, Hubble, and congratulations on your magnificent achievements.
I’m always the one to rant and rave about people being for less government and reduced government spending, until it’s their ox getting gored, but I have to admit when the bean counters at NASA decided the costs outweighed the benefits a couple of years ago and decided to abandon the Hubble to the inexorable pull of gravity, I was one of the first in line to scream and yell about it. Luckily for me, since that time the Hubble has inspired new thoughts on the grand scheme of things that might not have been inspired for many years to come. Apparently when it comes to my ox… I’m a hypocrite too.
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Some things are worth yelling and screaming and being hypocritical about. Some things are worth whatever it takes.
The images Hubble sent back of deep space made me realize just how small and inconsequential humanity is in the grand scheme of things. That was the first step in my becoming an atheist.
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Oh, I thought you knew — Hubble’s a hoax. All those gorgeous pictures were created by some of the world’s greatest science fiction illustrators. 😉
I was in high school when this thing first launched. I remember at the time it got dumped on a lot but, boy, has it ever turned out great!
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Yes, fortunately most people seem to have forgotten that embarrassing beginning with the improperly ground mirrors. Luckily we had the technology to fix it. Boy, did we ever fix it!