1 00:00:02,703 --> 00:00:04,403 MISSION CONTROL: Lift off of the Space Shuttle Discovery 2 00:00:04,405 --> 00:00:06,271 with the Hubble Space Telescope. 3 00:00:06,273 --> 00:00:08,407 CAPCOM, we have a go for release. 4 00:00:08,409 --> 00:00:11,477 NARRATOR: It may be the boldest experiment ever undertaken in astronomy... 5 00:00:11,479 --> 00:00:14,046 (cheering) 6 00:00:14,048 --> 00:00:17,483 ...with a legacy that will endure for centuries. 7 00:00:17,485 --> 00:00:20,419 WOMAN: You have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. 8 00:00:20,421 --> 00:00:24,256 MATT MOUNTAIN: The Hubble Space Telescope is probably the most scientifically 9 00:00:24,258 --> 00:00:25,724 productive instrument in history. 10 00:00:25,726 --> 00:00:30,462 NARRATOR: This single tool-- the Hubble Space Telescope-- 11 00:00:30,464 --> 00:00:34,033 has revealed the size and age of the universe, 12 00:00:34,035 --> 00:00:39,772 the birthplace of stars, and the existence of black holes. 13 00:00:39,774 --> 00:00:43,976 It's helped us find planets like our own 14 00:00:43,978 --> 00:00:46,345 in far-off solar systems 15 00:00:46,347 --> 00:00:50,649 and a mysterious force-- dark energy-- 16 00:00:50,651 --> 00:00:53,952 that makes up about 70% of the universe. 17 00:00:53,954 --> 00:00:57,089 AMBER STRAUGHN: The Hubble Space Telescope has completely changed the way 18 00:00:57,091 --> 00:01:00,759 that we as scientists understand the universe. 19 00:01:00,761 --> 00:01:04,063 NARRATOR: The story of Hubble is a story of discovery. 20 00:01:07,468 --> 00:01:09,101 It's also the story 21 00:01:09,103 --> 00:01:12,638 of one of the biggest blunders in the history of science. 22 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,041 SANDRA FABER: This is the moment we find out 23 00:01:16,043 --> 00:01:17,376 that we are doomed to failure. 24 00:01:17,378 --> 00:01:20,079 Is it possible that you could bring the telescope back? 25 00:01:20,081 --> 00:01:24,416 NARRATOR: And of the genius and courage that saved the day. 26 00:01:24,418 --> 00:01:26,018 STORY MUSGRAVE: The moment of truth is coming. 27 00:01:26,020 --> 00:01:29,421 You can't run from it anymore, it's coming, there it is. 28 00:01:29,423 --> 00:01:32,891 NARRATOR: Now, on Hubble's 25th anniversary, 29 00:01:32,893 --> 00:01:35,060 NOVA tells the remarkable tale 30 00:01:35,062 --> 00:01:39,164 of how this magnificent machine was built, 31 00:01:39,166 --> 00:01:43,802 how it has solved some of our most enduring mysteries, 32 00:01:43,804 --> 00:01:46,872 and how it is showing us a universe 33 00:01:46,874 --> 00:01:49,975 as beautiful as it is astonishing. 34 00:01:49,977 --> 00:01:55,614 "Invisible Universe Revealed"-- right now on NOVA. 35 00:02:11,532 --> 00:02:14,500 Major funding for NOVA is provided by the following: 36 00:02:19,140 --> 00:02:22,508 At Cance NOVA and promoting public understanding of science. 37 00:02:25,813 --> 00:02:27,846 And the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 38 00:02:27,848 --> 00:02:29,515 And by: 39 00:02:30,918 --> 00:02:33,352 And Millicent Bell through: 40 00:02:39,927 --> 00:02:44,196 NARRATOR: Since the dawn of humanity, we've looked to the heavens 41 00:02:44,198 --> 00:02:49,168 and wondered, how old is the universe? 42 00:02:49,170 --> 00:02:53,005 How many stars are there in the sky? 43 00:02:53,007 --> 00:02:56,275 Are there other planets out there like our own? 44 00:02:56,277 --> 00:03:04,616 But in the last 25 years, there's been a revolution... 45 00:03:04,618 --> 00:03:08,353 all because of a machine called Hubble. 46 00:03:12,092 --> 00:03:13,892 Traveling in space, 47 00:03:13,894 --> 00:03:17,029 high above the distortions of our atmosphere, 48 00:03:17,031 --> 00:03:19,865 gives this giant telescope great power. 49 00:03:21,869 --> 00:03:24,336 MATT MOUNTAIN: It's the size of a school bus. 50 00:03:24,338 --> 00:03:28,540 It's traveling at 17,000 miles an hour. 51 00:03:28,542 --> 00:03:31,510 It's 300-and-something miles above your head. 52 00:03:31,512 --> 00:03:33,712 But in there is one of the most precise mirrors 53 00:03:33,714 --> 00:03:35,347 mankind has ever built. 54 00:03:35,349 --> 00:03:40,752 NARRATOR: Billions of times more sensitive than our own eyes, 55 00:03:40,754 --> 00:03:42,688 the space telescope 56 00:03:42,690 --> 00:03:46,792 has literally brought the universe to us, 57 00:03:46,794 --> 00:03:51,430 making more than a million observations. 58 00:03:59,039 --> 00:04:03,775 One legendary image is called the "Pillars of Creation." 59 00:04:03,777 --> 00:04:08,113 It's a giant plume of gas and dust where stars are born. 60 00:04:10,851 --> 00:04:15,053 Our own sun probably formed in a place like this. 61 00:04:15,055 --> 00:04:19,825 AMBER STRAUGHN: The whole region is something like 400 trillion miles, 62 00:04:19,827 --> 00:04:23,095 so it's massive, it's huge. 63 00:04:23,097 --> 00:04:24,730 But still within the context of our own Milky Way, 64 00:04:24,732 --> 00:04:25,864 it's just one little part. 65 00:04:28,202 --> 00:04:30,269 NARRATOR: Hubble has also captured pictures 66 00:04:30,271 --> 00:04:34,006 of places where stars die. 67 00:04:34,008 --> 00:04:40,012 These are planetary nebulae-- remnants of expiring stars. 68 00:04:40,014 --> 00:04:41,713 They look like artworks in the heavens. 69 00:04:45,319 --> 00:04:49,521 Each one of them is different, like snowflakes. 70 00:04:49,523 --> 00:04:52,324 And these are some of the most spectacular images 71 00:04:52,326 --> 00:04:55,460 that Hubble has produced. 72 00:04:55,462 --> 00:04:59,865 NARRATOR: Hubble has shown us that black holes are real. 73 00:04:59,867 --> 00:05:02,634 A giant one sits at the center of our galaxy 74 00:05:02,636 --> 00:05:05,604 and nearly every other we know. 75 00:05:07,574 --> 00:05:12,110 It's discovered the age of the universe 76 00:05:12,112 --> 00:05:16,682 and that there are more stars in the heavens 77 00:05:16,684 --> 00:05:21,119 than grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts 78 00:05:21,121 --> 00:05:24,956 of the world combined. 79 00:05:27,361 --> 00:05:29,227 Over the past 25 years, 80 00:05:29,229 --> 00:05:33,965 Hubble has told us a story of creation, destruction, 81 00:05:33,967 --> 00:05:40,038 and of vast, new mysteries that beckon our curiosity. 82 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:45,510 But putting it in space long seemed an impossible dream, 83 00:05:45,512 --> 00:05:49,748 even to those who took on the challenge. 84 00:05:53,587 --> 00:05:58,657 NANCY ROMAN: I started out in optical astronomy and spectroscopy. 85 00:05:58,659 --> 00:06:02,928 But as a woman in my generation, 86 00:06:02,930 --> 00:06:06,898 I could not get tenure at a research institution. 87 00:06:06,900 --> 00:06:09,901 In 1959, when NASA was formed, 88 00:06:09,903 --> 00:06:12,804 one of the men there asked me if I knew anyone 89 00:06:12,806 --> 00:06:16,341 who would like to set up a program in space astronomy. 90 00:06:16,343 --> 00:06:19,578 And I decided that the idea 91 00:06:19,580 --> 00:06:22,347 of influencing astronomy for 50 years 92 00:06:22,349 --> 00:06:25,717 was just more than I could resist, so I took the job. 93 00:06:25,719 --> 00:06:31,823 NARRATOR: Astronomer Nancy Roman is known as the mother of the Hubble. 94 00:06:31,825 --> 00:06:35,627 She worked on its design and development for nearly 25 years. 95 00:06:35,629 --> 00:06:38,497 ROMAN: If I brought anything to it, it was perseverance 96 00:06:38,499 --> 00:06:41,666 and belief that it was possible. 97 00:06:41,668 --> 00:06:44,836 NARRATOR: The idea of a space telescope 98 00:06:44,838 --> 00:06:48,306 was first seriously proposed in 1946 99 00:06:48,308 --> 00:06:52,043 by Princeton scientist Lyman Spitzer. 100 00:06:52,045 --> 00:06:54,246 He was the scientific visionary, 101 00:06:54,248 --> 00:06:57,749 and Roman was the force that pushed this vision forward, 102 00:06:57,751 --> 00:07:01,653 decades before the technology was up to the task. 103 00:07:06,527 --> 00:07:08,627 Even into the mid-'60s, 104 00:07:08,629 --> 00:07:13,231 just getting a rocket safely into space was a challenge. 105 00:07:16,470 --> 00:07:18,136 ROMAN: There were a lot of failures. 106 00:07:22,176 --> 00:07:24,242 We were babies learning how to walk. 107 00:07:27,948 --> 00:07:30,115 And we didn't always succeed. 108 00:07:30,117 --> 00:07:31,450 Babies fall down, 109 00:07:31,452 --> 00:07:32,584 and we did too. 110 00:07:35,155 --> 00:07:37,656 NARRATOR: But however far-fetched at the time, 111 00:07:37,658 --> 00:07:39,925 the lure of getting a telescope 112 00:07:39,927 --> 00:07:44,162 above the distortion of the earth's atmosphere was strong. 113 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,500 The major challenge facing astronomers 114 00:07:48,502 --> 00:07:51,736 was the twinkle of the stars. 115 00:07:51,738 --> 00:07:56,675 LIVIO: Twinkling stars are an inspiring source of poetry, 116 00:07:56,677 --> 00:08:01,346 but in terms of observing stars, it's not very good. 117 00:08:01,348 --> 00:08:03,515 JIM CROCKER: If you can imagine 118 00:08:03,517 --> 00:08:06,084 you're swimming on the bottom of the swimming pool 119 00:08:06,086 --> 00:08:08,854 and you look up and you see the distortion. 120 00:08:08,856 --> 00:08:11,356 It's like a fun house mirror. 121 00:08:11,358 --> 00:08:14,025 That's what it's like 122 00:08:14,027 --> 00:08:17,462 to study stars from the surface of the Earth. 123 00:08:17,464 --> 00:08:19,464 The atmosphere is just like that water in that pool. 124 00:08:19,466 --> 00:08:23,201 It sloshes around and moves and distorts the image. 125 00:08:23,203 --> 00:08:26,371 But when you come up out of the water, everything's clear. 126 00:08:26,373 --> 00:08:28,373 That's exactly what happens 127 00:08:28,375 --> 00:08:30,809 when a telescope gets above the atmosphere. 128 00:08:30,811 --> 00:08:36,081 In the pristine vacuum of space, light can travel 129 00:08:36,083 --> 00:08:39,751 for billions of light years, undisturbed. 130 00:08:41,154 --> 00:08:44,222 NARRATOR: The atmosphere not only distorts light, 131 00:08:44,224 --> 00:08:47,792 it prevents some from reaching the ground at all. 132 00:08:50,864 --> 00:08:53,832 ROMAN: So for those reasons, astronomers for a long time 133 00:08:53,834 --> 00:08:57,435 were eager to get something outside. 134 00:08:59,540 --> 00:09:01,540 And so I got a committee together, 135 00:09:01,542 --> 00:09:03,875 and that was the beginning of the Hubble. 136 00:09:03,877 --> 00:09:09,614 NARRATOR: The space telescope was named for Edwin Hubble, 137 00:09:09,616 --> 00:09:12,851 the great astronomer who did much of his pioneering work 138 00:09:12,853 --> 00:09:19,157 in the 1920s at Mt. Wilson Observatory in California. 139 00:09:19,159 --> 00:09:23,428 In those days, our own galaxy, the Milky Way, 140 00:09:23,430 --> 00:09:27,332 was considered the entirety of the universe. 141 00:09:27,334 --> 00:09:32,170 Nearly everyone, even Einstein, believed the universe 142 00:09:32,172 --> 00:09:34,439 had existed forever in its present state-- 143 00:09:34,441 --> 00:09:38,243 that it was eternal and unchanging. 144 00:09:38,245 --> 00:09:42,447 But Hubble would prove them all wrong. 145 00:09:42,449 --> 00:09:44,549 He began by figuring out 146 00:09:44,551 --> 00:09:48,820 how far away the stars he was seeing actually were. 147 00:09:48,822 --> 00:09:50,422 LIVIO: At the time of Edwin Hubble, 148 00:09:50,424 --> 00:09:52,691 it was hard to measure distances. 149 00:09:52,693 --> 00:09:54,693 It still is even today. 150 00:09:54,695 --> 00:09:59,564 NARRATOR: It's difficult to know if a star appears bright 151 00:09:59,566 --> 00:10:01,533 because it is actually bright 152 00:10:01,535 --> 00:10:04,002 or simply because it is close to us. 153 00:10:04,004 --> 00:10:07,472 So Hubble searched for a rare type of star 154 00:10:07,474 --> 00:10:10,875 called a Cepheid variable. 155 00:10:10,877 --> 00:10:13,912 Cepheids pulse at a known brightness, 156 00:10:13,914 --> 00:10:17,115 so by measuring the amount of light he could see, 157 00:10:17,117 --> 00:10:22,220 he could calculate how far away the star actually was. 158 00:10:22,222 --> 00:10:24,456 In October 1923, 159 00:10:24,458 --> 00:10:28,493 Hubble found a Cepheid in a gaseous cluster of stars 160 00:10:28,495 --> 00:10:31,896 then called the Andromeda nebula. 161 00:10:31,898 --> 00:10:34,666 It yielded a shocking discovery. 162 00:10:34,668 --> 00:10:36,434 MOUNTAIN: When he actually did the calculations, 163 00:10:36,436 --> 00:10:37,769 he discovered Andromeda 164 00:10:37,771 --> 00:10:40,271 was roughly a million light years away from us, 165 00:10:40,273 --> 00:10:41,606 which is outside our galaxy. 166 00:10:41,608 --> 00:10:45,644 NARRATOR: Andromeda was its own galaxy. 167 00:10:45,646 --> 00:10:47,078 MOUNTAIN: Oh, there are other galaxies out there, 168 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:48,647 and we're just one of them. 169 00:10:48,649 --> 00:10:50,982 NARRATOR: For the first time in history, there was evidence 170 00:10:50,984 --> 00:10:55,487 that our universe stretched far beyond the Milky Way. 171 00:10:55,489 --> 00:10:57,789 MOUNTAIN: But then what he did was he measured the speed 172 00:10:57,791 --> 00:11:00,392 of a whole bunch of these galaxies. 173 00:11:00,394 --> 00:11:02,694 NARRATOR: Edwin Hubble measured speed 174 00:11:02,696 --> 00:11:05,497 by looking at the light the galaxies emitted. 175 00:11:05,499 --> 00:11:08,033 He knew if the galaxy was moving toward him, 176 00:11:08,035 --> 00:11:09,801 the waves would shorten 177 00:11:09,803 --> 00:11:12,537 and shift to the blue part of the spectrum. 178 00:11:12,539 --> 00:11:14,506 If it was moving away, 179 00:11:14,508 --> 00:11:18,109 the waves would lengthen and shift to the red. 180 00:11:20,447 --> 00:11:22,814 LIVIO: Every distant galaxy Hubble looked at, 181 00:11:22,816 --> 00:11:25,717 he saw the light from it being red-shifted, 182 00:11:25,719 --> 00:11:28,953 which meant everything is moving away from everything else. 183 00:11:28,955 --> 00:11:31,289 MOUNTAIN: And he found the further away they were, 184 00:11:31,291 --> 00:11:33,258 the faster they were going. 185 00:11:33,260 --> 00:11:37,128 NARRATOR: In fact, the universe itself was expanding, 186 00:11:37,130 --> 00:11:39,397 stretching the light from the galaxies. 187 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:42,167 Edwin Hubble had changed 188 00:11:42,169 --> 00:11:45,603 our understanding of the cosmos forever. 189 00:11:45,605 --> 00:11:47,172 MOUNTAIN: The whole universe was clearly expanding. 190 00:11:47,174 --> 00:11:49,441 And so this was the discovery 191 00:11:49,443 --> 00:11:51,109 of the expansion of the universe. 192 00:11:51,111 --> 00:11:54,012 You know, which Einstein said, "Well, that's crazy, right?" 193 00:11:54,014 --> 00:11:57,082 The discovery of the expansion of the universe of course 194 00:11:57,084 --> 00:12:01,586 was a very strong piece of evidence for a beginning. 195 00:12:01,588 --> 00:12:05,056 If everything is now expanding, you can run this backwards 196 00:12:05,058 --> 00:12:07,492 and see that everything should have started 197 00:12:07,494 --> 00:12:11,763 from a certain point or singularity, 198 00:12:11,765 --> 00:12:15,266 what we today call a Big Bang. 199 00:12:19,706 --> 00:12:21,506 MOUNTAIN: That was pretty radical 200 00:12:21,508 --> 00:12:23,975 and mind-blowing stuff back in the '20s and '30s, 201 00:12:23,977 --> 00:12:25,977 and some people today even find it mind-blowing. 202 00:12:25,979 --> 00:12:30,148 NARRATOR: Hubble's discovery opened up the modern era of astronomy 203 00:12:30,150 --> 00:12:35,286 and raised huge questions, like "How old is the universe?" 204 00:12:35,288 --> 00:12:39,390 But astronomers couldn't see clearly and deeply enough 205 00:12:39,392 --> 00:12:44,729 into the cosmos, so the mystery would endure for decades. 206 00:12:44,731 --> 00:12:46,865 LIVIO: Determining the age of the universe 207 00:12:46,867 --> 00:12:49,701 was definitely one of the key goals 208 00:12:49,703 --> 00:12:51,970 of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. 209 00:12:51,972 --> 00:12:53,571 Astronomers used to have fistfights 210 00:12:53,573 --> 00:12:55,540 whether the universe was ten billion years 211 00:12:55,542 --> 00:12:56,941 or 20 billion years old 212 00:12:56,943 --> 00:12:59,511 until we launched the Hubble Telescope. 213 00:12:59,513 --> 00:13:03,448 NARRATOR: But first, they would have to build it. 214 00:13:03,450 --> 00:13:05,150 ROMAN: I realized that 215 00:13:05,152 --> 00:13:09,053 my job at NASA to a large extent was salesmanship. 216 00:13:09,055 --> 00:13:12,624 And it was a particular problem with Congress. 217 00:13:12,626 --> 00:13:14,826 We can cut the space program sharply. 218 00:13:14,828 --> 00:13:16,661 Congress has already cut that $400 million 219 00:13:16,663 --> 00:13:18,229 and I think we can cut it a billion dollars, 220 00:13:18,231 --> 00:13:20,198 and we should cut it a billion dollars. 221 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,400 ROMAN: Proxmire was quite famous as a senator 222 00:13:22,402 --> 00:13:25,537 of picking out projects that he thought were stupid. 223 00:13:25,539 --> 00:13:27,505 We have a war going on in Vietnam. 224 00:13:27,507 --> 00:13:31,176 ROMAN: And he asked NASA why the American taxpayer 225 00:13:31,178 --> 00:13:32,911 should pay for something like the Hubble. 226 00:13:32,913 --> 00:13:35,747 And I came up with the answer that 227 00:13:35,749 --> 00:13:40,218 for the cost of a night at the movies, 228 00:13:40,220 --> 00:13:43,588 every American would have 15 years of exciting discovery. 229 00:13:47,427 --> 00:13:51,129 NARRATOR: Finally, after more than a decade, 230 00:13:51,131 --> 00:13:53,464 the plans were approved in 1977. 231 00:13:55,802 --> 00:13:58,269 Hubble's power would come from an eight-foot wide mirror. 232 00:13:58,271 --> 00:14:02,841 It would gather light from across the universe. 233 00:14:02,843 --> 00:14:07,378 To magnify the sky and see tiny details, 234 00:14:07,380 --> 00:14:10,348 it would need a long distance to focus the light 235 00:14:10,350 --> 00:14:13,017 and give a clear image. 236 00:14:13,019 --> 00:14:17,088 But a space telescope needs to be compact, 237 00:14:17,090 --> 00:14:19,490 so Hubble would use a second mirror 238 00:14:19,492 --> 00:14:24,062 to further magnify the light and focus it onto the cameras. 239 00:14:24,064 --> 00:14:29,601 For it to work, the mirrors would have to be perfect. 240 00:14:29,603 --> 00:14:32,570 Hubble was the most precise optical mirror ever made. 241 00:14:32,572 --> 00:14:34,105 No place along its surface 242 00:14:34,107 --> 00:14:35,840 could have deviated from a perfect curve 243 00:14:35,842 --> 00:14:37,508 by more than a millionth of an inch. 244 00:14:37,510 --> 00:14:42,747 NARRATOR: An optics company, Perkin-Elmer, was chosen to do the work, 245 00:14:42,749 --> 00:14:46,918 in part because it had already made mirrors for spy satellites. 246 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,220 FABER: They told NASA, 247 00:14:49,222 --> 00:14:53,925 "We know how to do this, and this technology is proprietary. 248 00:14:53,927 --> 00:14:55,593 "We are not going to let you come in 249 00:14:55,595 --> 00:14:58,897 and watch what we are doing." 250 00:14:58,899 --> 00:15:01,833 So NASA got a rather limited view 251 00:15:01,835 --> 00:15:04,669 of what was going on in that little group. 252 00:15:04,671 --> 00:15:08,539 CROCKER: They had very, very precise instruments 253 00:15:08,541 --> 00:15:11,509 that they designed just for polishing this mirror. 254 00:15:11,511 --> 00:15:13,011 They had to work at night 255 00:15:13,013 --> 00:15:16,114 so that the vibration of cars in the parking lot 256 00:15:16,116 --> 00:15:18,049 wouldn't cause problems with the polishing equipment. 257 00:15:18,051 --> 00:15:21,152 They had to isolate it and float it on a table 258 00:15:21,154 --> 00:15:24,355 so any vibrations from the building wouldn't come in. 259 00:15:24,357 --> 00:15:28,726 And this program was over budget, behind schedule. 260 00:15:28,728 --> 00:15:32,830 They were desperate to get the telescope built and flown. 261 00:15:32,832 --> 00:15:36,067 NARRATOR: Perkin-Elmer's own measurements 262 00:15:36,069 --> 00:15:39,003 showed discrepancies in the surface of the mirror, 263 00:15:39,005 --> 00:15:42,573 but this was never passed on to NASA. 264 00:15:42,575 --> 00:15:45,910 The telescope was declared ready for launch, 265 00:15:45,912 --> 00:15:49,514 a disaster waiting to happen. 266 00:15:49,516 --> 00:15:53,284 (applause) 267 00:15:53,286 --> 00:15:55,820 ED WEILER: The hopes and dreams of the world's astronomers 268 00:15:55,822 --> 00:16:00,525 were with us that day at Cape Canaveral. 269 00:16:00,527 --> 00:16:01,960 The last time astronomers 270 00:16:01,962 --> 00:16:04,395 leapt a factor of ten in observing capability 271 00:16:04,397 --> 00:16:08,366 was when Galileo, in 1610, instead of using his eye, 272 00:16:08,368 --> 00:16:10,268 put the telescope in front of his eye. 273 00:16:10,270 --> 00:16:13,538 ANNOUNCER: And liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery 274 00:16:13,540 --> 00:16:18,543 with the Hubble Space Telescope, our window on the universe! 275 00:16:18,545 --> 00:16:21,713 WEILER: All increases in capability after Galileo were incremental. 276 00:16:21,715 --> 00:16:24,882 They weren't leaps of a factor of ten, until Hubble. 277 00:16:24,884 --> 00:16:26,985 ASTRONAUT: Mission Control, Houston. 278 00:16:26,987 --> 00:16:29,387 MISSION CONTROL: Roger all, Discovery. 279 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,961 WEILER: We thought, "Let's go, we're off to the races!" 280 00:16:36,963 --> 00:16:38,463 Little did we know the time bomb that was ticking. 281 00:16:38,465 --> 00:16:41,065 Little did we know. 282 00:16:41,067 --> 00:16:42,767 MISSION CONTROL: Discover Houston. 283 00:16:42,769 --> 00:16:44,102 You have a go to open the doors. 284 00:16:47,674 --> 00:16:52,677 NARRATOR: After nearly 30 years of planning, on April 25, 1990, 285 00:16:52,679 --> 00:16:54,879 astronauts used a robotic arm 286 00:16:54,881 --> 00:16:58,383 to deploy the Hubble space telescope in orbit 287 00:16:58,385 --> 00:17:01,419 380 miles above the earth. 288 00:17:01,421 --> 00:17:03,254 ASTRONAUT: CAPCOM, we have a go for release. 289 00:17:03,256 --> 00:17:06,190 MISSION CONTROL: We concur, Charlie. 290 00:17:06,192 --> 00:17:08,960 ANNOUNCER: Mission control, Houston confirms, 291 00:17:08,962 --> 00:17:10,428 the Hubble Space Telescope is released. 292 00:17:10,430 --> 00:17:13,064 (cheering) 293 00:17:13,066 --> 00:17:14,999 NARRATOR: With the telescope finally in place, 294 00:17:15,001 --> 00:17:17,468 everyone was excited to see what it could do. 295 00:17:17,470 --> 00:17:20,872 REPORTER: ...make final adjustments before we get to see 296 00:17:20,874 --> 00:17:23,574 the clearest pictures ever seen in the history of astronomy. 297 00:17:23,576 --> 00:17:25,510 MISSION CONTROL: Nose gear touch down. 298 00:17:25,512 --> 00:17:27,278 NARRATOR: But when the first images arrived, 299 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,149 they weren't quite what the scientists had expected. 300 00:17:40,546 --> 00:17:42,546 When they first saw these images 301 00:17:42,572 --> 00:17:44,338 they just assumed the telescope wasn't in focus. 302 00:17:44,340 --> 00:17:48,709 They tried to move the focus backwards and forwards, 303 00:17:48,711 --> 00:17:52,179 but the light kept being blurred like it was always out of focus. 304 00:17:52,181 --> 00:17:55,616 It was really quite a shock. 305 00:17:55,618 --> 00:17:57,318 FABER: We were very worried. 306 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:58,719 LIVIO: I just couldn't believe it. 307 00:17:58,721 --> 00:18:00,521 It definitely was a huge shock. 308 00:18:00,523 --> 00:18:02,556 We were supposed to revolutionize astronomy. 309 00:18:02,558 --> 00:18:04,959 How is it that we can't focus this telescope? 310 00:18:04,961 --> 00:18:08,262 How is this even possible? 311 00:18:08,264 --> 00:18:12,266 NARRATOR: After weeks of investigation, horrified astronomers suspected 312 00:18:12,268 --> 00:18:15,302 something was wrong with the mirror. 313 00:18:15,304 --> 00:18:20,474 This is my logbook that I kept during the early days of Hubble. 314 00:18:20,476 --> 00:18:23,043 Daily, we went to meetings, and we kept a record 315 00:18:23,045 --> 00:18:25,245 of everything that was happening. 316 00:18:25,247 --> 00:18:28,716 Here is a particularly interesting day. 317 00:18:28,718 --> 00:18:32,519 We were told about the actuators on the back of the mirror. 318 00:18:32,521 --> 00:18:35,322 The actuators might be able to fix small errors 319 00:18:35,324 --> 00:18:37,558 in the surface of the mirror by pushing and pulling on it, 320 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:43,063 So this says, "One half wave is 7 times the dynamic range," 321 00:18:43,065 --> 00:18:45,766 meaning the problem is seven times worse than they could fix. 322 00:18:45,768 --> 00:18:47,401 And here's a little note I wrote: 323 00:18:47,403 --> 00:18:53,073 "This is the moment we find out that we are doomed to failure!" 324 00:18:53,075 --> 00:18:55,676 NARRATOR: Sandra Faber and her colleagues 325 00:18:55,678 --> 00:18:58,212 realized that the problem was massive 326 00:18:58,214 --> 00:19:01,215 and lay at the very heart of the telescope. 327 00:19:01,217 --> 00:19:02,883 FABER: The Hubble telescope 328 00:19:02,885 --> 00:19:05,252 has a big primary mirror that collects the light, 329 00:19:05,254 --> 00:19:07,388 and then there's a secondary mirror 330 00:19:07,390 --> 00:19:11,392 which reflects the light back down to the detector. 331 00:19:11,394 --> 00:19:16,263 So if everything is working, every zone of the primary mirror 332 00:19:16,265 --> 00:19:20,534 should come to a focus at exactly the same location. 333 00:19:20,536 --> 00:19:22,670 NARRATOR: With a single focal point, 334 00:19:22,672 --> 00:19:25,439 a star would appear crisp and bright. 335 00:19:25,441 --> 00:19:28,942 But this wasn't what was happening. 336 00:19:28,944 --> 00:19:30,944 FABER: As I looked at those star images, 337 00:19:30,946 --> 00:19:34,048 I could see that the problem with Hubble 338 00:19:34,050 --> 00:19:37,885 was the rays are coming to a focus at different points. 339 00:19:37,887 --> 00:19:43,757 And that is the classic problem called spherical aberration. 340 00:19:43,759 --> 00:19:48,128 This is the actual set of images that my team presented 341 00:19:48,130 --> 00:19:52,166 that convinced people of the spherical aberration. 342 00:19:52,168 --> 00:19:56,136 The top set of images is simulated with software, 343 00:19:56,138 --> 00:20:01,308 the bottom is the actual images, and the fact that they match 344 00:20:01,310 --> 00:20:03,977 is what shows that we really understood what was going on. 345 00:20:05,781 --> 00:20:07,081 WEILER: That was the kiss of death. 346 00:20:07,083 --> 00:20:08,716 It was like a bullet to the head. 347 00:20:08,718 --> 00:20:10,484 So I said, "Well, what are we going to do?" 348 00:20:10,486 --> 00:20:15,489 FABER: Should we declare this telescope to be junk and just end it? 349 00:20:15,491 --> 00:20:18,125 Can we use it in its present form 350 00:20:18,127 --> 00:20:19,727 and get something out of it? 351 00:20:19,729 --> 00:20:21,295 Can we fix it? 352 00:20:21,297 --> 00:20:23,497 And all of those thoughts were running through people's minds 353 00:20:23,499 --> 00:20:26,433 in those fateful days after this discovery. 354 00:20:26,435 --> 00:20:31,004 NARRATOR: Somehow, the mirror had been polished too flat, 355 00:20:31,006 --> 00:20:35,876 and there might not be anything anyone could do to fix it. 356 00:20:35,878 --> 00:20:37,311 WEILER: It was probably early June 357 00:20:37,313 --> 00:20:38,846 when people starting saying the "S" word-- 358 00:20:38,848 --> 00:20:40,180 spherical aberration. 359 00:20:40,182 --> 00:20:42,516 That lead up to the infamous press conference 360 00:20:42,518 --> 00:20:45,219 that I'll never forget as long as I live. 361 00:20:45,221 --> 00:20:47,187 What might have made this happen? 362 00:20:47,189 --> 00:20:49,656 Do you know for sure that that the aberration 363 00:20:49,658 --> 00:20:51,325 is in the primary mirror, the secondary mirror, both? 364 00:20:51,327 --> 00:20:52,960 Why wasn't it caught on the ground? 365 00:20:52,962 --> 00:20:56,663 MOUNTAIN: This was one of the most expensive science projects 366 00:20:56,665 --> 00:21:00,501 that NASA had ever undertaken, and it was a techno-turkey. 367 00:21:00,503 --> 00:21:03,737 Is it possible that you could bring the telescope back? 368 00:21:03,739 --> 00:21:05,339 It was an absolute disaster. 369 00:21:05,341 --> 00:21:09,910 And so it became life and death for NASA itself. 370 00:21:11,781 --> 00:21:13,747 It was the national joke. 371 00:21:17,219 --> 00:21:21,155 CROCKER: We went from being the heroes of the universe 372 00:21:21,157 --> 00:21:24,525 to the Mr. Magoos, 373 00:21:24,527 --> 00:21:28,362 and being associated with the telescope was difficult. 374 00:21:30,566 --> 00:21:35,669 NARRATOR: A NASA board of inquiry searched for clues to what went wrong. 375 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:43,410 Inspecting every piece of every tool used to polish the mirror, 376 00:21:43,412 --> 00:21:49,683 they found the smoking gun: a few missing chips of paint. 377 00:21:49,685 --> 00:21:53,120 They had thrown off the laser-guided measuring tool 378 00:21:53,122 --> 00:21:55,889 used to shape the mirror. 379 00:21:55,891 --> 00:21:59,760 CROCKER: Everything was off about a millimeter. 380 00:21:59,762 --> 00:22:02,729 And so they polished the edges of the mirror a little too flat, 381 00:22:02,731 --> 00:22:08,802 about 1/50th of the thickness of a human hair. 382 00:22:08,804 --> 00:22:13,140 NARRATOR: Many feared this meant Hubble was dead, 383 00:22:13,142 --> 00:22:15,776 since the mirror was hard to access 384 00:22:15,778 --> 00:22:18,045 and impossible to remove in space. 385 00:22:18,047 --> 00:22:23,350 Sandra Faber was on the panel tasked with finding a solution. 386 00:22:23,352 --> 00:22:26,386 FABER: A blue ribbon committee convened. 387 00:22:26,388 --> 00:22:27,955 People were thinking about everything 388 00:22:27,957 --> 00:22:30,691 from bringing the telescope down 389 00:22:30,693 --> 00:22:33,727 to having astronauts go up in orbit 390 00:22:33,729 --> 00:22:35,629 and swim down into the tube 391 00:22:35,631 --> 00:22:38,899 and install correcting optics in front of the primary mirror. 392 00:22:38,901 --> 00:22:43,103 I called the report, jokingly, 393 00:22:43,105 --> 00:22:45,239 "50 bad ways to fix a space telescope." 394 00:22:45,241 --> 00:22:49,176 NARRATOR: The best idea was to put small corrective mirrors 395 00:22:49,178 --> 00:22:50,744 in front of the cameras and other instruments. 396 00:22:50,746 --> 00:22:55,616 But the problem was getting the mirrors inside the telescope. 397 00:22:55,618 --> 00:23:00,954 Jim Crocker was an engineer in charge of Hubble operations. 398 00:23:00,956 --> 00:23:02,923 CROCKER: We got to the point where it's like, 399 00:23:02,925 --> 00:23:04,758 "We're kind of running out of ideas here 400 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,827 "and not sure what to do. 401 00:23:06,829 --> 00:23:09,229 "There's a lot of ways to fix this, 402 00:23:09,231 --> 00:23:14,001 there's just no way to perform them in space." 403 00:23:14,003 --> 00:23:15,769 (shower running) 404 00:23:15,771 --> 00:23:17,871 I actually came back from the meeting 405 00:23:17,873 --> 00:23:19,873 and went back to the hotel that we were staying at 406 00:23:19,875 --> 00:23:21,308 and I thought, 407 00:23:21,310 --> 00:23:23,143 "Well, I'll take a shower before we go out to dinner." 408 00:23:23,145 --> 00:23:26,246 The showerhead is on a sliding rod, 409 00:23:26,248 --> 00:23:28,782 and the head goes up and down. 410 00:23:28,784 --> 00:23:32,286 And so I turned the water on and I slid it up, 411 00:23:32,288 --> 00:23:34,121 and then it was like it clicked. 412 00:23:36,392 --> 00:23:42,529 If we packaged the mirrors into a little robotic arm 413 00:23:42,531 --> 00:23:44,698 and we put that arm into a new instrument, 414 00:23:44,700 --> 00:23:50,938 you could raise this mirror up and flip the little mirrors out 415 00:23:50,940 --> 00:23:52,539 in front of each of the other instruments 416 00:23:52,541 --> 00:23:54,408 and correct them all. 417 00:23:54,410 --> 00:23:58,111 And I thought, "Huh, that'll work." 418 00:24:03,819 --> 00:24:07,888 NARRATOR: NASA agreed and immediately started work. 419 00:24:07,890 --> 00:24:12,993 Astronauts would install an instrument called Costar. 420 00:24:12,995 --> 00:24:18,098 Once in place, its four arms would flip out, 421 00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:20,133 like the showerhead, 422 00:24:20,135 --> 00:24:25,339 and essentially give Hubble glasses. 423 00:24:25,341 --> 00:24:28,375 But no one had ever done anything 424 00:24:28,377 --> 00:24:31,511 remotely this intricate in space. 425 00:24:31,513 --> 00:24:33,180 STORY MUSGRAVE: When I got the job, 426 00:24:33,182 --> 00:24:36,116 I didn't smile and I didn't celebrate anything. 427 00:24:36,118 --> 00:24:37,584 I says, "Here we go. 428 00:24:37,586 --> 00:24:39,920 I'll do the best I can with this." 429 00:24:39,922 --> 00:24:44,157 I told NASA and I told the media, 430 00:24:44,159 --> 00:24:45,759 they're all saying we're going to fix it, 431 00:24:45,761 --> 00:24:47,260 and I told them, "I don't know if we're going to fix it." 432 00:24:50,299 --> 00:24:52,599 NARRATOR: Musgrave and a team of astronauts 433 00:24:52,601 --> 00:24:55,369 trained for 20 months preparing to fix Hubble. 434 00:24:55,371 --> 00:25:01,441 MUSGRAVE: We choreograph this dance down to every finger and every toe. 435 00:25:01,443 --> 00:25:08,382 You know, a great ballerina, it's every finger and every toe. 436 00:25:08,384 --> 00:25:10,784 You can't have something messed up. 437 00:25:10,786 --> 00:25:15,222 You can't exactly mimic what you're going to do there. 438 00:25:15,224 --> 00:25:19,426 So in your imagination, you watch yourself work. 439 00:25:19,428 --> 00:25:21,762 Then it is practice, 440 00:25:21,764 --> 00:25:24,798 so that you can pull it off when you have to. 441 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,801 NARRATOR: To simulate working in space, 442 00:25:27,803 --> 00:25:30,437 the astronauts spent 400 hours underwater 443 00:25:30,439 --> 00:25:33,407 rehearsing on a mock-up of Hubble. 444 00:25:35,944 --> 00:25:37,811 MOUNTAIN: I think the most incredible thing about this 445 00:25:37,813 --> 00:25:41,114 is that the astronauts were prepared to risk their lives 446 00:25:41,116 --> 00:25:43,483 to go and fix a scientific instrument. 447 00:25:43,485 --> 00:25:46,953 (radio chatter) 448 00:25:46,955 --> 00:25:49,056 MOUNTAIN: We know the shuttle was not a perfect machine. 449 00:25:49,058 --> 00:25:50,891 After all, there's been two disasters. 450 00:25:50,893 --> 00:25:54,995 MUSGRAVE: I had a one-in-ten chance of dying. 451 00:25:54,997 --> 00:25:57,998 I don't like those odds. 452 00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,800 But it's not a matter of fear. 453 00:25:59,802 --> 00:26:02,335 You've decided ahead of time it's what you do in life. 454 00:26:02,337 --> 00:26:03,603 MISSION CONTROL: And we have lift-off. 455 00:26:03,605 --> 00:26:05,772 Lift-off of the Space Shuttle Endeavour 456 00:26:05,774 --> 00:26:07,307 on an ambitious mission 457 00:26:07,309 --> 00:26:09,643 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. 458 00:26:09,645 --> 00:26:11,445 MOUNTAIN: In eight minutes, 459 00:26:11,447 --> 00:26:16,516 they went from zero to 17,500 miles an hour. 460 00:26:16,518 --> 00:26:19,152 MUSGRAVE: It's rough, and the vibrations are very rough. 461 00:26:19,154 --> 00:26:21,755 It's a butterfly bolted onto a bullet, 462 00:26:21,757 --> 00:26:24,958 you know, that's what's going on. 463 00:26:29,998 --> 00:26:33,800 NARRATOR: It takes the crew two days to catch up to the telescope. 464 00:26:33,802 --> 00:26:37,437 MUSGRAVE: As soon as I caught that bright star out there, 465 00:26:37,439 --> 00:26:40,941 it had to be Hubble, nothing else. 466 00:26:40,943 --> 00:26:42,509 The moment of truth is coming. 467 00:26:42,511 --> 00:26:44,177 You can't run from it anymore, it's coming. 468 00:26:44,179 --> 00:26:45,779 There it is. 469 00:26:45,781 --> 00:26:47,614 MISSION CONTROL: Endeavor, keep monitors disabled, 470 00:26:47,616 --> 00:26:50,717 and you've got a go for capture. 471 00:26:50,719 --> 00:26:54,988 NARRATOR: The crew will do five spacewalks-- 472 00:26:54,990 --> 00:26:58,291 at the time, the most ever attempted on a single mission. 473 00:26:58,293 --> 00:27:00,093 ASTRONAUT: Okay, visors as required. 474 00:27:00,095 --> 00:27:04,965 NARRATOR: On the third walk, Musgrave and astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman 475 00:27:04,967 --> 00:27:07,167 need to replace Hubble's wide field camera. 476 00:27:07,169 --> 00:27:11,338 It was designed to capture a broad range of light frequencies 477 00:27:11,340 --> 00:27:14,541 across a large area of the sky. 478 00:27:14,543 --> 00:27:19,846 ASTRONAUT: Oh, look at that baby, beautiful spanking new! 479 00:27:19,848 --> 00:27:21,381 NARRATOR: The most critical moment 480 00:27:21,383 --> 00:27:24,317 comes when Musgrave takes off the camera cover. 481 00:27:24,319 --> 00:27:30,490 NARRATOR: As he removes it, he exposes the camera's delicate mirror. 482 00:27:30,492 --> 00:27:33,326 ASTRONAUT: Gonna touch the release. 483 00:27:33,328 --> 00:27:35,996 I want it down lower. 484 00:27:35,998 --> 00:27:37,364 MUSGRAVE: Coming off, 485 00:27:37,366 --> 00:27:40,066 if you touch that mirror, it's over. 486 00:27:40,068 --> 00:27:42,569 If you touch that thing, 487 00:27:42,571 --> 00:27:44,671 every image that comes down from Hubble 488 00:27:44,673 --> 00:27:46,406 has got your little fingerprint on it. 489 00:27:46,408 --> 00:27:48,375 And that's very bad form. 490 00:27:48,377 --> 00:27:50,243 ASTRONAUT: I want it down lower. 491 00:27:52,314 --> 00:27:54,881 NARRATOR: Scheduled to take more than four hours, 492 00:27:54,883 --> 00:27:57,017 the crew pulls off the meticulous repair 493 00:27:57,019 --> 00:27:59,052 in half the time. 494 00:27:59,054 --> 00:28:00,487 MISSION CONTROL: You got about two feet to go. 495 00:28:00,489 --> 00:28:02,088 You're looking real good. 496 00:28:02,090 --> 00:28:05,559 NARRATOR: Finally, the team turns its attention to Costar. 497 00:28:08,163 --> 00:28:11,631 Astronaut Kathryn Thornton pulls out an old instrument 498 00:28:11,633 --> 00:28:14,434 to make room for the new corrective mirrors, 499 00:28:14,436 --> 00:28:17,804 packed inside a huge case. 500 00:28:19,675 --> 00:28:21,741 MOUNTAIN: You saw these massive, great, refrigerator-size instruments 501 00:28:21,743 --> 00:28:26,980 that had to be maneuvered precisely into place. 502 00:28:26,982 --> 00:28:30,050 It became a real drama. 503 00:28:30,052 --> 00:28:31,585 Would they do it? Would they get it in? 504 00:28:34,590 --> 00:28:40,493 NARRATOR: After two hours, the instrument fits exactly as planned. 505 00:28:40,495 --> 00:28:43,263 MUSGRAVE: We did our job. 506 00:28:43,265 --> 00:28:46,733 We were pretty happy with the job that we did. 507 00:28:46,735 --> 00:28:49,603 But even if, yes, we did the job perfect, 508 00:28:49,605 --> 00:28:51,972 I didn't know what the result would be. 509 00:28:53,575 --> 00:28:54,774 Sit down, Chris! 510 00:28:54,776 --> 00:28:56,476 (laughter) 511 00:28:56,478 --> 00:28:58,712 NARRATOR: Back on the ground, the room is packed 512 00:28:58,714 --> 00:29:00,380 as they prepare to receive the first images. 513 00:29:06,655 --> 00:29:12,158 LIVIO: I told somebody at the time that it was almost like 514 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,261 when your child is born, you know, 515 00:29:14,263 --> 00:29:17,364 you sort of think that everything is going to go right, 516 00:29:17,366 --> 00:29:18,999 but you really don't know. 517 00:29:19,001 --> 00:29:21,835 WEILER: I'll never forget it. 518 00:29:21,837 --> 00:29:24,571 I mean, I'll remember the birth of my two kids 519 00:29:24,573 --> 00:29:26,473 and the night we saw the first image from Hubble. 520 00:29:29,244 --> 00:29:32,045 We were all huddled around the screen, 521 00:29:32,047 --> 00:29:35,682 and I will never forget when that screen lit up 522 00:29:35,684 --> 00:29:40,353 and first appeared a little dot right in the center. 523 00:29:42,591 --> 00:29:46,159 (cheering) 524 00:29:46,161 --> 00:29:47,661 We did it! 525 00:29:47,663 --> 00:29:49,362 WEILER: And that by itself was good news 526 00:29:49,364 --> 00:29:52,599 because there was no fuzz around it. 527 00:29:52,601 --> 00:29:55,635 But then more and more little dots, stars, start showing up, 528 00:29:55,637 --> 00:29:57,103 until the whole screen was filled 529 00:29:57,105 --> 00:30:00,573 with crystal clear points of light. 530 00:30:00,575 --> 00:30:05,111 And all the faint stuff we were never seeing suddenly showed up. 531 00:30:09,384 --> 00:30:14,187 WEILER: And we knew we had fixed Hubble. 532 00:30:14,189 --> 00:30:18,291 (cheering) 533 00:30:30,105 --> 00:30:31,938 LIVIO: Once we saw the new images, 534 00:30:31,940 --> 00:30:34,441 we knew that that's it, they nailed it. 535 00:30:34,443 --> 00:30:36,810 FABER: Astronomers leaped to their feet and applauded and cheered 536 00:30:36,812 --> 00:30:41,414 and whistled and hooted-- it was unforgettable. 537 00:30:41,416 --> 00:30:43,083 It was a stunning success in the end. 538 00:30:43,085 --> 00:30:44,584 You know, the trouble with Hubble was over. 539 00:30:52,327 --> 00:30:56,162 NARRATOR: With the space telescope now fully living up to its design, 540 00:30:56,164 --> 00:30:57,997 scientists could finally begin to solve 541 00:30:57,999 --> 00:31:01,267 some of the timeless mysteries of the universe. 542 00:31:06,775 --> 00:31:08,675 The solutions to many of these mysteries 543 00:31:08,677 --> 00:31:12,912 lie in the countless beautiful images Hubble has sent back, 544 00:31:12,914 --> 00:31:17,617 the most detailed ever taken of the heavens. 545 00:31:17,619 --> 00:31:20,887 LIVIO: You cannot help but be in awe 546 00:31:20,889 --> 00:31:21,988 when you look at Hubble images. 547 00:31:24,526 --> 00:31:26,559 STRAUGHN: In addition to these images being beautiful, 548 00:31:26,561 --> 00:31:28,728 they help us to answer the questions 549 00:31:28,730 --> 00:31:32,132 that humans have been asking forever. 550 00:31:32,134 --> 00:31:37,937 NARRATOR: Questions like where do stars and planets come from? 551 00:31:37,939 --> 00:31:41,107 And this Hubble picture of the Orion nebula 552 00:31:41,109 --> 00:31:44,644 gave us unprecedented insights. 553 00:31:44,646 --> 00:31:48,381 STRAUGHN: This particular image is so incredibly detailed, 554 00:31:48,383 --> 00:31:50,483 we can see stars forming. 555 00:31:50,485 --> 00:31:55,789 All of this background colorful structure is hydrogen gas. 556 00:31:55,791 --> 00:31:58,224 When gravity starts to take hold, 557 00:31:58,226 --> 00:32:01,995 the hydrogen atoms come together and undergo a nuclear reaction, 558 00:32:01,997 --> 00:32:07,600 so they start to form a star. 559 00:32:07,602 --> 00:32:11,004 And so a lot of what you actually see in this image, 560 00:32:11,006 --> 00:32:13,072 all of these bright dots are these things. 561 00:32:13,074 --> 00:32:15,375 They're newborn stars. 562 00:32:15,377 --> 00:32:21,181 NARRATOR: This single image reveals 3,000 newborn stars. 563 00:32:24,019 --> 00:32:26,319 And it also showed astronomers 564 00:32:26,321 --> 00:32:28,922 something else they'd never seen before. 565 00:32:28,924 --> 00:32:32,058 STRAUGHN: If you zoom in and look really close, 566 00:32:32,060 --> 00:32:34,027 what you can see are these very cool, 567 00:32:34,029 --> 00:32:35,762 little proto-planetary discs. 568 00:32:35,764 --> 00:32:38,031 So these are tiny little solar systems 569 00:32:38,033 --> 00:32:40,767 that are starting to form. 570 00:32:40,769 --> 00:32:43,903 Our own solar system was probably in a very similar state 571 00:32:43,905 --> 00:32:45,238 billions of years ago, 572 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,674 so the sun and the Earth and all the planets 573 00:32:47,676 --> 00:32:50,176 were contained inside this disk of dust. 574 00:32:52,547 --> 00:32:56,049 What Hubble did was it really opened the door for us 575 00:32:56,051 --> 00:33:00,353 to image these disks and be able to see them with our eyes. 576 00:33:00,355 --> 00:33:03,523 NARRATOR: Hubble can see light 577 00:33:03,525 --> 00:33:07,594 up to four billion times fainter than the human eye. 578 00:33:07,596 --> 00:33:12,966 MOUNTAIN: It can point to the most distant galaxies in the universe 579 00:33:12,968 --> 00:33:15,468 and stare at them continuously without moving 580 00:33:15,470 --> 00:33:20,073 while it's flying around the Earth at 17,000 miles an hour. 581 00:33:20,075 --> 00:33:24,878 NARRATOR: This has allowed astronomers to solve another enduring mystery: 582 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,281 how many stars are there in the universe? 583 00:33:28,283 --> 00:33:33,253 They did it by zooming in to a tiny patch of sky. 584 00:33:33,255 --> 00:33:34,921 MOUNTAIN: We wanted to find out, 585 00:33:34,923 --> 00:33:37,390 what happens if we just stare at a blank piece of sky? 586 00:33:37,392 --> 00:33:40,226 About the area you would see if you looked at the sky 587 00:33:40,228 --> 00:33:42,729 through a drinking straw. 588 00:33:42,731 --> 00:33:44,864 MOUNTAIN: And so we stared at a single point in the sky, 589 00:33:44,866 --> 00:33:47,333 a blank point, for about ten days. 590 00:33:50,472 --> 00:33:53,439 NARRATOR: In this seemingly empty sliver of sky, 591 00:33:53,441 --> 00:33:57,710 Hubble revealed 10,000 points of light. 592 00:33:57,712 --> 00:34:01,748 MOUNTAIN: Every point is another galaxy. 593 00:34:01,750 --> 00:34:05,184 LIVIO: Each one of those galaxies is a collection 594 00:34:05,186 --> 00:34:09,055 of about 100 billion stars like the sun. 595 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,663 NARRATOR: Every galaxy is made of stars, dust, and planets 596 00:34:16,665 --> 00:34:19,732 in solar systems like our own. 597 00:34:19,734 --> 00:34:22,302 MOUNTAIN: As you fly through the whole almost 12 billion years 598 00:34:22,304 --> 00:34:25,104 of cosmic history, you start to see galaxies change 599 00:34:25,106 --> 00:34:28,408 as you go deeper and deeper in. 600 00:34:28,410 --> 00:34:32,078 And right at the very end, you see these really 601 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,582 sort of orange and red fuzzy little blobs, 602 00:34:35,584 --> 00:34:38,818 which are the very earliest galaxies. 603 00:34:38,820 --> 00:34:41,421 LIVIO: In visible light, 604 00:34:41,423 --> 00:34:44,457 these are the deepest images of the universe. 605 00:34:48,129 --> 00:34:51,364 MOUNTAIN: So in a point in the sky no bigger than a drinking straw, 606 00:34:51,366 --> 00:34:54,434 there are 10,000 galaxies. 607 00:34:54,436 --> 00:34:56,235 So it told us instantly 608 00:34:56,237 --> 00:35:01,374 there were 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe. 609 00:35:01,376 --> 00:35:06,312 Each galaxy has roughly 100 billion stars. 610 00:35:06,314 --> 00:35:08,181 You do the math, and it tells us 611 00:35:08,183 --> 00:35:11,584 how many stars there are in our observable universe. 612 00:35:11,586 --> 00:35:15,688 It's two with 22 zeroes after it. 613 00:35:21,062 --> 00:35:23,463 We didn't know that before the Hubble Space Telescope went up. 614 00:35:27,068 --> 00:35:30,003 NARRATOR: The telescope would also help answer 615 00:35:30,005 --> 00:35:33,206 another one of the most profound mysteries ever contemplated: 616 00:35:33,208 --> 00:35:36,943 how old is the universe? 617 00:35:36,945 --> 00:35:38,344 MOUNTAIN: The Hubble Space Telescope 618 00:35:38,346 --> 00:35:40,046 represents exploring in a true sense. 619 00:35:40,048 --> 00:35:41,814 You don't know what you're going to find. 620 00:35:41,816 --> 00:35:45,218 NARRATOR: The discovery of the age of the universe 621 00:35:45,220 --> 00:35:47,420 would take a circuitous route, 622 00:35:47,422 --> 00:35:49,522 building on Edwin Hubble's breakthrough 623 00:35:49,524 --> 00:35:52,525 that showed the universe is expanding. 624 00:35:52,527 --> 00:35:57,296 It would also set the stage for a shocking surprise. 625 00:35:57,298 --> 00:35:59,065 SAUL PERLMUTTER: Everybody had known for many years 626 00:35:59,067 --> 00:36:02,535 that the universe was expanding, but everybody had assumed 627 00:36:02,537 --> 00:36:05,138 that the universe would slow down in that expansion 628 00:36:05,140 --> 00:36:06,939 because gravity would attract everything to everything else, 629 00:36:06,941 --> 00:36:08,574 and that would slow the expansion. 630 00:36:08,576 --> 00:36:10,443 And the big question was, 631 00:36:10,445 --> 00:36:12,345 is there enough stuff in the universe 632 00:36:12,347 --> 00:36:15,114 to gravitationally attract the universe to come to a halt? 633 00:36:15,116 --> 00:36:18,284 ADAM RIESS: Is gravity retarding it enough 634 00:36:18,286 --> 00:36:20,620 that eventually, the expansion will stop 635 00:36:20,622 --> 00:36:22,822 and then the universe would start contracting? 636 00:36:22,824 --> 00:36:25,291 And so we wanted to measure as far out as we could, 637 00:36:25,293 --> 00:36:27,460 as far back in time as we could, 638 00:36:27,462 --> 00:36:29,495 the past expansion rate of the universe 639 00:36:29,497 --> 00:36:31,197 and compare that to today. 640 00:36:33,601 --> 00:36:35,702 NARRATOR: Like Edwin Hubble had decades before, 641 00:36:35,704 --> 00:36:39,405 the scientists needed to find stars of known brightness 642 00:36:39,407 --> 00:36:43,042 so they could accurately measure distances. 643 00:36:43,044 --> 00:36:45,812 Hubble had used Cepheid variables, 644 00:36:45,814 --> 00:36:48,281 but Perlmutter and Riess searched for something 645 00:36:48,283 --> 00:36:51,651 called a Supernova Type 1a. 646 00:36:54,556 --> 00:36:59,592 These exploding stars all burn with the same peak brightness, 647 00:36:59,594 --> 00:37:03,763 five billion times brighter than our sun. 648 00:37:03,765 --> 00:37:06,099 But the trick was to find them. 649 00:37:06,101 --> 00:37:07,834 PERLMUTTER: They really are rare. 650 00:37:07,836 --> 00:37:10,036 They only explode a couple times per millennium 651 00:37:10,038 --> 00:37:13,339 in a given galaxy of a hundred billion stars. 652 00:37:13,341 --> 00:37:15,074 And for that matter they don't give you any advanced warning. 653 00:37:15,076 --> 00:37:16,476 You don't know when it's going to happen. 654 00:37:16,478 --> 00:37:19,779 And then once a supernova explodes, 655 00:37:19,781 --> 00:37:21,214 it brightens in a few weeks 656 00:37:21,216 --> 00:37:24,650 and it's faded away in a few months. 657 00:37:24,652 --> 00:37:27,754 But if you can observe some, oh, 50,000 galaxies 658 00:37:27,756 --> 00:37:29,655 in the course of a night, 659 00:37:29,657 --> 00:37:32,225 and then if you can wait a few weeks 660 00:37:32,227 --> 00:37:34,460 and come back and observe the same 50,000 galaxies, 661 00:37:34,462 --> 00:37:36,929 now you have reasonably good odds 662 00:37:36,931 --> 00:37:39,031 that new supernova will have exploded 663 00:37:39,033 --> 00:37:40,933 in some of those galaxies. 664 00:37:43,371 --> 00:37:45,538 NARRATOR: The Hubble images made it possible to measure 665 00:37:45,540 --> 00:37:47,840 how far away the supernovae were 666 00:37:47,842 --> 00:37:53,045 and how long it took their light to reach the earth, 667 00:37:53,047 --> 00:37:57,784 even when they had exploded billions of years in the past. 668 00:37:57,786 --> 00:37:59,786 PERLMUTTER: And that's, of course, the whole game here, 669 00:37:59,788 --> 00:38:01,354 because you need to be able 670 00:38:01,356 --> 00:38:03,189 to tell the brightness of that supernova 671 00:38:03,191 --> 00:38:04,657 to tell exactly what point in time in history 672 00:38:04,659 --> 00:38:06,092 you're looking at. 673 00:38:06,094 --> 00:38:09,462 NARRATOR: With the same technique Edwin Hubble had used-- 674 00:38:09,464 --> 00:38:11,063 red shift-- 675 00:38:11,065 --> 00:38:14,033 Perlmutter measured a distant supernova's light 676 00:38:14,035 --> 00:38:17,670 to see how fast it seemed to be moving away. 677 00:38:17,672 --> 00:38:21,607 He expected to see that the expansion of the universe 678 00:38:21,609 --> 00:38:26,779 was slowing down, but he was in for a surprise. 679 00:38:26,781 --> 00:38:29,582 PERLMUTTER: It was seven, eight billion years back in the past, 680 00:38:29,584 --> 00:38:34,120 and that one supernova suggested that the universe 681 00:38:34,122 --> 00:38:35,555 was not slowing down. 682 00:38:35,557 --> 00:38:38,958 And this was very interesting, very puzzling. 683 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:44,363 NARRATOR: His team then analyzed 42 more supernovae 684 00:38:44,365 --> 00:38:48,134 and came to a shocking conclusion. 685 00:38:48,136 --> 00:38:50,837 PERLMUTTER: That data set strongly suggested 686 00:38:50,839 --> 00:38:53,372 that the universe was actually speeding up. 687 00:38:53,374 --> 00:38:56,742 NARRATOR: Adam Riess was part of a competing group, 688 00:38:56,744 --> 00:39:00,580 and his work was yielding the same odd result. 689 00:39:00,582 --> 00:39:04,083 Looking into the past, he expected to see that 690 00:39:04,085 --> 00:39:07,053 the expansion of the universe had slowed, 691 00:39:07,055 --> 00:39:11,891 but five billion years ago, it started to accelerate. 692 00:39:11,893 --> 00:39:14,093 RIESS: You know, you worry a tremendous amount 693 00:39:14,095 --> 00:39:16,395 because there are many ways 694 00:39:16,397 --> 00:39:17,964 to get a measurement like that wrong, 695 00:39:17,966 --> 00:39:19,498 pretty much only one way to get it right. 696 00:39:19,500 --> 00:39:22,802 PERLMUTTER: The two teams working on this at this point 697 00:39:22,804 --> 00:39:26,138 were in really a type of rivalry. 698 00:39:26,140 --> 00:39:27,540 We were not talking to each other 699 00:39:27,542 --> 00:39:29,041 about what we were finding at all. 700 00:39:29,043 --> 00:39:30,977 You wake up at 2:00 in the morning and you think, 701 00:39:30,979 --> 00:39:34,280 "Oh, my God, did I account for some subtlety?" 702 00:39:34,282 --> 00:39:36,349 We knew that if we got anything wrong, 703 00:39:36,351 --> 00:39:39,785 the other group would be sure to point it out. 704 00:39:39,787 --> 00:39:41,254 Did I subtract it from the total? 705 00:39:41,256 --> 00:39:42,622 Is this right? 706 00:39:42,624 --> 00:39:45,524 And you know, it's like cosmic accounting, 707 00:39:45,526 --> 00:39:49,829 and you gotta make sure that it's right. 708 00:39:49,831 --> 00:39:54,400 NARRATOR: But the numbers were correct. 709 00:39:54,402 --> 00:39:57,770 Within weeks of each other in 1998, 710 00:39:57,772 --> 00:40:02,375 the two teams announced the same shocking conclusion: 711 00:40:02,377 --> 00:40:04,644 the expansion of the universe was speeding up. 712 00:40:04,646 --> 00:40:07,780 ANNOUNCER: You have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 713 00:40:07,782 --> 00:40:09,982 for the discovery 714 00:40:09,984 --> 00:40:12,184 of the accelerating expansion of the universe. 715 00:40:14,656 --> 00:40:16,188 NARRATOR: Perlmutter and Riess, 716 00:40:16,190 --> 00:40:18,491 together with Riess' team leader Brian Schmidt, 717 00:40:18,493 --> 00:40:22,728 shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics. 718 00:40:22,730 --> 00:40:25,164 (applause) 719 00:40:25,166 --> 00:40:27,500 But their discovery had opened up a whole new mystery. 720 00:40:27,502 --> 00:40:31,704 What was fueling the acceleration? 721 00:40:31,706 --> 00:40:34,240 Scientists called it dark energy. 722 00:40:34,242 --> 00:40:37,510 PERLMUTTER: Something like 70% of all the stuff in the universe 723 00:40:37,512 --> 00:40:39,412 has to be made of this dark energy 724 00:40:39,414 --> 00:40:41,580 for the universe to be accelerating the way it is. 725 00:40:41,582 --> 00:40:45,918 And so it's possibly the most important stuff in the universe, 726 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,454 and we don't know anything about it. 727 00:40:48,456 --> 00:40:50,756 I don't really know what dark energy is. 728 00:40:50,758 --> 00:40:53,960 We don't have an explanation that would satisfy 729 00:40:53,962 --> 00:40:57,296 really anybody, especially a physicist. 730 00:40:57,298 --> 00:40:59,765 And so it's blowing everybody's minds again. 731 00:40:59,767 --> 00:41:02,568 Physicists call this the most important problem in physics 732 00:41:02,570 --> 00:41:04,637 because we don't know where this dark energy's come from. 733 00:41:04,639 --> 00:41:06,572 We can't calculate where it's come from. 734 00:41:06,574 --> 00:41:08,040 Our models don't work. 735 00:41:11,012 --> 00:41:12,979 NARRATOR: But despite the mystery, 736 00:41:12,981 --> 00:41:15,381 the discovery helped finally resolve the question 737 00:41:15,383 --> 00:41:18,985 astronomers had dreamed of answering for centuries: 738 00:41:18,987 --> 00:41:21,854 how old is the universe? 739 00:41:21,856 --> 00:41:24,056 PERLMUTTER: You need to know that history 740 00:41:24,058 --> 00:41:26,859 of when was it faster, when was it slower 741 00:41:26,861 --> 00:41:28,594 if you're going to piece it all together 742 00:41:28,596 --> 00:41:30,563 and work our way back to the point 743 00:41:30,565 --> 00:41:33,099 at which all the distances would go to zero, 744 00:41:33,101 --> 00:41:34,667 the beginning of the universe. 745 00:41:34,669 --> 00:41:36,535 The Big Bang. 746 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:40,706 NARRATOR: Scientists found Cepheids and supernovae 747 00:41:40,708 --> 00:41:44,176 stretching far across the universe. 748 00:41:44,178 --> 00:41:47,980 They used Hubble to measure their distances 749 00:41:47,982 --> 00:41:50,383 and red shift to figure out 750 00:41:50,385 --> 00:41:53,519 how fast these points seemed to be traveling away. 751 00:41:53,521 --> 00:41:58,090 This revealed how long the total expansion had taken 752 00:41:58,092 --> 00:42:00,426 since the Big Bang. 753 00:42:00,428 --> 00:42:03,696 FABER: Hubble provided a ruler for the universe. 754 00:42:03,698 --> 00:42:06,499 So when you put together the basic size and the history 755 00:42:06,501 --> 00:42:09,735 of how fast things were going in the past, 756 00:42:09,737 --> 00:42:11,604 you get 13.7 billion years. 757 00:42:14,108 --> 00:42:18,644 NARRATOR: Our universe is 13.7 billion years old. 758 00:42:18,646 --> 00:42:23,115 Hubble had finally helped answer this fundamental question. 759 00:42:23,117 --> 00:42:24,817 LIVIO: There was a promise, 760 00:42:24,819 --> 00:42:26,719 and Hubble delivered on that promise. 761 00:42:29,824 --> 00:42:33,492 NARRATOR: And then, nearly a century after Edwin Hubble 762 00:42:33,494 --> 00:42:36,462 first glimpsed galaxies beyond our own, 763 00:42:36,464 --> 00:42:40,900 the space telescope took on another profound question. 764 00:42:40,902 --> 00:42:44,837 How do galaxies actually form? 765 00:42:44,839 --> 00:42:49,475 At the center of the mystery, black holes-- 766 00:42:49,477 --> 00:42:54,680 regions so dense that nothing can escape their pull. 767 00:42:54,682 --> 00:42:58,951 FABER: The basic idea of a black hole is the gravity's so strong 768 00:42:58,953 --> 00:43:00,920 that nothing can escape. 769 00:43:00,922 --> 00:43:03,689 Even light cannot get out. 770 00:43:03,691 --> 00:43:06,759 We can't take a picture of a black hole directly. 771 00:43:06,761 --> 00:43:08,160 It's black. 772 00:43:08,162 --> 00:43:09,795 So how do we know it's there? 773 00:43:09,797 --> 00:43:11,263 We know it's there 774 00:43:11,265 --> 00:43:14,700 by studying the way stuff moves in its vicinity. 775 00:43:14,702 --> 00:43:18,170 Things orbiting close to it are gonna go very fast, 776 00:43:18,172 --> 00:43:20,706 but you have to get very close to the hole 777 00:43:20,708 --> 00:43:22,341 in order to see that effect. 778 00:43:25,179 --> 00:43:27,980 NARRATOR: Scientists had theorized but never proven 779 00:43:27,982 --> 00:43:31,016 the existence of supermassive black holes 780 00:43:31,018 --> 00:43:34,086 billions of times the mass of our sun 781 00:43:34,088 --> 00:43:35,921 until they used Hubble 782 00:43:35,923 --> 00:43:40,192 to look at the core of a galaxy called M87. 783 00:43:40,194 --> 00:43:43,329 FABER: It was the superior spatial resolution of Hubble 784 00:43:43,331 --> 00:43:45,064 that was the key. 785 00:43:45,066 --> 00:43:46,832 In the galaxy M87, 786 00:43:46,834 --> 00:43:48,934 the gas on this side is coming towards you 787 00:43:48,936 --> 00:43:51,971 and the gas on that side is going away from you. 788 00:43:51,973 --> 00:43:54,106 And we can measure the motions 789 00:43:54,108 --> 00:43:55,741 and calculate the mass of the black hole: 790 00:43:55,743 --> 00:43:59,111 three billion times the mass of our sun. 791 00:43:59,113 --> 00:44:04,483 NARRATOR: But how common are these giant black holes? 792 00:44:04,485 --> 00:44:08,787 Sandra Faber's team used Hubble to measure the speeds of stars 793 00:44:08,789 --> 00:44:11,590 orbiting around the center of other galaxies 794 00:44:11,592 --> 00:44:14,460 and discovered something remarkable. 795 00:44:14,462 --> 00:44:17,563 FABER: We accumulated measurements of stellar speeds 796 00:44:17,565 --> 00:44:19,365 in I would say two dozen galaxies, 797 00:44:19,367 --> 00:44:21,500 and in every one 798 00:44:21,502 --> 00:44:24,670 we found evidence for a compact central mass. 799 00:44:24,672 --> 00:44:28,908 Essentially, at the center of almost every galaxy, 800 00:44:28,910 --> 00:44:30,809 there is a supermassive black hole. 801 00:44:30,811 --> 00:44:34,480 There is some regulating mechanism here 802 00:44:34,482 --> 00:44:38,984 that makes the black hole and the bulge of stars around it 803 00:44:38,986 --> 00:44:41,320 grow together. 804 00:44:41,322 --> 00:44:44,823 So it is a chicken and egg problem in the sense that 805 00:44:44,825 --> 00:44:47,493 did the galaxy form first 806 00:44:47,495 --> 00:44:49,295 and then a black hole grew inside it, 807 00:44:49,297 --> 00:44:51,997 or did the black hole 808 00:44:51,999 --> 00:44:55,534 kind of seed the formation of the galaxy? 809 00:44:55,536 --> 00:45:00,139 And we're actually not sure what the answer to that is. 810 00:45:00,141 --> 00:45:02,474 NARRATOR: The precise relationship 811 00:45:02,476 --> 00:45:07,012 between supermassive black holes and galaxies remains a mystery. 812 00:45:07,014 --> 00:45:10,783 It's just one of the countless questions 813 00:45:10,785 --> 00:45:14,553 and profound discoveries generated by Hubble 814 00:45:14,555 --> 00:45:17,790 over its 25 year history. 815 00:45:17,792 --> 00:45:20,159 And its continued success 816 00:45:20,161 --> 00:45:24,296 is a testament to the humans who have kept it going. 817 00:45:24,298 --> 00:45:26,498 MISSION CONTROL: We want you to use your best judgment 818 00:45:26,500 --> 00:45:30,736 if the pitching array will definitely clear the top of HST. 819 00:45:33,541 --> 00:45:35,975 NARRATOR: Astronauts have upgraded the telescope 820 00:45:35,977 --> 00:45:38,911 on five different missions since its launch. 821 00:45:38,913 --> 00:45:43,616 ASTRONAUT: Hubble has arrived on board Atlantis. 822 00:45:45,953 --> 00:45:47,620 ASTRONAUT: Okay, here we go. 823 00:45:47,622 --> 00:45:50,923 NARRATOR: The last visit to Hubble was in 2009. 824 00:45:50,925 --> 00:45:55,361 Astronauts needed to replace the wide field camera 825 00:45:55,363 --> 00:45:57,162 and install and repair spectrographs 826 00:45:57,164 --> 00:46:00,766 that could help peer into black holes 827 00:46:00,768 --> 00:46:03,402 and analyze the atmospheres of distant planets. 828 00:46:03,404 --> 00:46:09,008 As on past missions, ingenuity saves the day. 829 00:46:09,010 --> 00:46:11,543 MIKE MASSIMINO: That handrail is obstructing the attachment 830 00:46:11,545 --> 00:46:14,413 of the fastener/catcher plate. 831 00:46:14,415 --> 00:46:16,115 NARRATOR: Astronaut Mike Massimino 832 00:46:16,117 --> 00:46:20,552 can't remove a handrail blocking his access to Hubble. 833 00:46:20,554 --> 00:46:23,122 MASSIMINO: We couldn't get inside the thing to do the repair, 834 00:46:23,124 --> 00:46:26,492 and I just felt terrible. 835 00:46:26,494 --> 00:46:28,327 This is gonna be my contribution to astronomy, 836 00:46:28,329 --> 00:46:29,895 which is killing our opportunity 837 00:46:29,897 --> 00:46:32,798 to be able to analyze the atmospheres of planets. 838 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:34,066 That darn handrail! 839 00:46:34,068 --> 00:46:35,868 MASSIMINO: I thought we were sunk, 840 00:46:35,870 --> 00:46:38,170 because I did not see any way we were gonna fix this thing. 841 00:46:40,474 --> 00:46:42,808 NARRATOR: And then engineers come up with a radical idea. 842 00:46:44,879 --> 00:46:47,546 Break off the handle. 843 00:46:47,548 --> 00:46:49,315 It's a risky approach. 844 00:46:49,317 --> 00:46:51,116 MASSIMINO: By yanking that thing off, 845 00:46:51,118 --> 00:46:53,018 by definition, we're going to have 846 00:46:53,020 --> 00:46:56,088 little shards of metal flying, 847 00:46:56,090 --> 00:46:57,589 so I put a lot of tape on the handrail 848 00:46:57,591 --> 00:47:00,793 to make sure that none of that stuff would get out. 849 00:47:00,795 --> 00:47:01,627 DREW FEUSTEL: Houston, you ready for this? 850 00:47:01,629 --> 00:47:02,461 MISSION CONTROL: Yeah, we're ready. 851 00:47:02,463 --> 00:47:04,163 FEUSTEL: Okay Mass, you have a "go." 852 00:47:04,165 --> 00:47:05,431 MASSIMINO: Here we go. 853 00:47:08,669 --> 00:47:09,668 It's off! 854 00:47:09,670 --> 00:47:12,604 (cheering) 855 00:47:12,606 --> 00:47:14,039 Disposal bag, please. 856 00:47:14,041 --> 00:47:16,241 MASSIMINO: The handrail was out of the way 857 00:47:16,243 --> 00:47:17,509 and wasn't going to be a problem anymore. 858 00:47:17,511 --> 00:47:19,712 I felt really happy that we got the job done 859 00:47:19,714 --> 00:47:21,513 and we were leaving Hubble in good shape. 860 00:47:21,515 --> 00:47:24,850 LIVIO: Hubble is working right now 861 00:47:24,852 --> 00:47:27,486 probably the best it has ever worked. 862 00:47:27,488 --> 00:47:30,122 It produces discoveries every day. 863 00:47:30,124 --> 00:47:32,891 NARRATOR: The new instruments have allowed us 864 00:47:32,893 --> 00:47:35,260 to look deeper into the universe, 865 00:47:35,262 --> 00:47:38,063 revealing even more detail than before. 866 00:47:41,202 --> 00:47:44,636 This recent image of the Andromeda galaxy 867 00:47:44,638 --> 00:47:48,807 is the highest resolution Hubble photo ever taken. 868 00:47:48,809 --> 00:47:51,643 More than 60,000 light years across, 869 00:47:51,645 --> 00:47:56,181 it shows more than 100 million stars. 870 00:47:56,183 --> 00:47:59,785 And just this past year, 871 00:47:59,787 --> 00:48:02,788 a spectrograph installed on Massimino's mission 872 00:48:02,790 --> 00:48:06,425 analyzed the light filtering through the atmosphere 873 00:48:06,427 --> 00:48:10,696 of a planet 729 trillion miles from our own, 874 00:48:10,698 --> 00:48:15,167 and found water. 875 00:48:15,169 --> 00:48:16,935 We absolutely couldn't have done this work without Hubble. 876 00:48:16,937 --> 00:48:22,474 NARRATOR: It's a remarkable contribution for a 25-year-old machine. 877 00:48:22,476 --> 00:48:24,476 MASSIMINO: Every one of the science instruments 878 00:48:24,478 --> 00:48:26,278 were eventually replaced. 879 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:27,746 We don't have any of the original ones left. 880 00:48:27,748 --> 00:48:31,150 And that's why it's still doing its job 25 years later. 881 00:48:31,152 --> 00:48:33,318 We don't warranty the labor, 882 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:35,287 not sure about the parts, you'd gotta check with NASA, 883 00:48:35,289 --> 00:48:37,723 but I think it's gonna be going for a long time. 884 00:48:39,693 --> 00:48:43,662 NARRATOR: But with the Space Shuttle decommissioned in 2011, 885 00:48:43,664 --> 00:48:46,231 there's no way to reach Hubble. 886 00:48:46,233 --> 00:48:48,934 And the telescope's days are numbered. 887 00:48:48,936 --> 00:48:51,737 ASTRONAUT: Hey John, this is like spacewalk number 714? 888 00:48:51,739 --> 00:48:53,672 Six. 889 00:48:53,674 --> 00:48:57,709 NARRATOR: Astronaut John Grunsfeld visited Hubble three times, 890 00:48:57,711 --> 00:48:59,511 more than anyone else, 891 00:48:59,513 --> 00:49:05,384 and was the last human to touch the telescope in 2009. 892 00:49:05,386 --> 00:49:07,920 GRUNSFELD: We'd finished all of the work that we had planned, 893 00:49:07,922 --> 00:49:09,288 and I was in my spacesuit 894 00:49:09,290 --> 00:49:11,757 and getting ready to come back into the airlock, 895 00:49:11,759 --> 00:49:14,793 and I gave Hubble, you know, one last tap to say goodbye, 896 00:49:14,795 --> 00:49:20,432 and I just felt incredibly happy that we'd had this amazing ride. 897 00:49:20,434 --> 00:49:23,335 And I watched it disappear off into the distance 898 00:49:23,337 --> 00:49:27,773 and I knew I would never see Hubble again, 899 00:49:27,775 --> 00:49:31,310 but we'd accomplished so much, it was just a matter of joy. 900 00:49:36,484 --> 00:49:40,586 NARRATOR: Scientists hope that Hubble will work for another decade, 901 00:49:40,588 --> 00:49:42,354 but with every orbit, 902 00:49:42,356 --> 00:49:46,024 it encounters slight drag from the earth's atmosphere. 903 00:49:46,026 --> 00:49:49,428 The telescope will eventually fall from the sky, 904 00:49:49,430 --> 00:49:52,764 probably in the late 2030s. 905 00:49:52,766 --> 00:49:55,701 Most of Hubble with burn up, 906 00:49:55,703 --> 00:49:59,438 but the mirror will likely survive reentry, 907 00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:03,842 so NASA may send up a robot with a small rocket 908 00:50:03,844 --> 00:50:06,678 to help guide it safely into the ocean. 909 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:08,580 GRUNSFELD: One of the requirements 910 00:50:08,582 --> 00:50:10,749 for the mission that we flew in 2009 911 00:50:10,751 --> 00:50:12,851 was to install an adapter 912 00:50:12,853 --> 00:50:15,754 on the bottom of the Hubble Space Telescope 913 00:50:15,756 --> 00:50:17,489 so that a future mission could dock with it 914 00:50:17,491 --> 00:50:18,957 so that at the end of Hubble's life, 915 00:50:18,959 --> 00:50:21,159 we could send it into the atmosphere 916 00:50:21,161 --> 00:50:24,229 so that it would re-enter over a known place on Earth. 917 00:50:24,231 --> 00:50:30,769 NARRATOR: But before Hubble de-orbits, NASA is planning to launch 918 00:50:30,771 --> 00:50:35,340 an even larger telescope called the James Webb. 919 00:50:35,342 --> 00:50:39,611 It has a foldable mirror three times larger than Hubble's 920 00:50:39,613 --> 00:50:44,683 and will be sent to an orbit beyond the moon. 921 00:50:44,685 --> 00:50:48,220 But it will be hard to live up to the legacy of Hubble. 922 00:50:50,925 --> 00:50:54,026 MOUNTAIN: The Hubble Space Telescope is probably the most scientifically 923 00:50:54,028 --> 00:50:56,094 productive instrument in history. 924 00:50:59,099 --> 00:51:01,166 Before the Hubble was launched, 925 00:51:01,168 --> 00:51:03,268 we didn't actually know the age of the universe. 926 00:51:06,674 --> 00:51:08,507 The Hubble just sorted that question out-- bang! 927 00:51:11,211 --> 00:51:14,079 We had never seen black holes before. 928 00:51:14,081 --> 00:51:20,619 After Hubble, we know that every single galaxy has a black hole. 929 00:51:20,621 --> 00:51:24,590 We knew that when stars finish their life scale, 930 00:51:24,592 --> 00:51:26,558 they form planetary nebulae. 931 00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:28,393 Hubble just catalogued 932 00:51:28,395 --> 00:51:30,629 every single type of planetary nebulae. 933 00:51:30,631 --> 00:51:33,599 And then it caught supernovae blowing up. 934 00:51:36,036 --> 00:51:39,571 We had no idea the universe was filled with dark energy. 935 00:51:39,573 --> 00:51:41,340 We didn't even know that was possible. 936 00:51:42,977 --> 00:51:46,511 We've seen into the depths where stars are formed. 937 00:51:46,513 --> 00:51:51,283 We can actually see the formation of planetary systems. 938 00:51:51,285 --> 00:51:52,551 We knew that theoretically-- 939 00:51:52,553 --> 00:51:54,987 we can now see all of that stuff. 940 00:51:54,989 --> 00:51:57,122 So you just tick off all of those discoveries 941 00:51:57,124 --> 00:51:59,391 and our whole worldview is just changed. 942 00:51:59,393 --> 00:52:05,130 The human desire is to find out who we are. 943 00:52:05,132 --> 00:52:06,598 Are we alone? 944 00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:07,799 Where did we come from? 945 00:52:07,801 --> 00:52:08,967 How did we get here? 946 00:52:08,969 --> 00:52:15,207 These questions probably will outlive all of us. 947 00:52:15,209 --> 00:52:17,843 But I think Hubble has been very important 948 00:52:17,845 --> 00:52:20,045 in making progress toward these answers. 949 00:52:31,258 --> 00:52:33,425 In caves dangerously deep underground... 950 00:52:33,427 --> 00:52:35,761 where you can watch this and other NOVA programs. 951 00:52:35,763 --> 00:52:38,030 See expert interviews, interactives, 952 00:52:38,032 --> 00:52:40,165 video extras, and more. 953 00:52:40,167 --> 00:52:42,034 Follow NOVA on Facebook and Twitter, 954 00:52:42,036 --> 00:52:45,237 and find us online at pbs.org/nova. 955 00:53:03,023 --> 00:53:05,791 This NOVA program is available on DVD. 956 00:53:05,793 --> 00:53:10,862 To order, visit shopPBS.org, or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 957 00:53:10,864 --> 00:53:10,862 NOVA is also available for download from iTunes.