In what year was the Hubble Space Telescope launched? Hubble was launched in 1990, beginning one of the most influential space-observatory missions in history.
NASA launched Hubble aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990, during mission STS-31. The telescope was deployed into low Earth orbit the following day. Its position above Earth’s atmosphere allowed it to obtain clearer observations than ground-based telescopes, especially in visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared light.
Hubble’s early results were compromised by a flaw in its primary mirror, which had been polished to the wrong shape. Astronauts corrected the problem during the 1993 STS-61 servicing mission by installing corrective optics and replacing key instruments. The repair transformed Hubble into the sharp-eyed observatory scientists had intended.
The launch year is sometimes confused with Hubble’s first major scientific results or its later servicing missions. Hubble’s famous Deep Field images, upgraded cameras, and many landmark discoveries came years after launch. Its successor in infrared astronomy, the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021.