| Space Pictures: Hubble Floating Free
The Hubble Space Telescope floats against the background of Earth after a week of repair and upgrade by Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts in 2002.
Hubble’s fourth servicing mission gave the telescope its first new instrument installed since the 1997 repair mission – the Advanced Camera for Surveys. It doubled Hubble’s field of view and records information much faster than Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.
space pictures: hubble in flight
The Hubble Space Telescope drifts through space in this picture, taken by Space Shuttle Discovery during Hubble’s second servicing mission in 1997. The 10-foot aperture door, open to admit light, closes to block out space debris.
The observatory’s solar panels and foil-like thermal blankets are clearly visible. The solar panels provide power, while the thermal blankets protect Hubble from the extreme temperatures of space.
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