On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery into low Earth orbit. After an initial optics flaw was corrected by a 1993 servicing mission, Hubble became one of the most important scientific instruments in history. Orbiting above the atmosphere's distortion, it captured images of unprecedented clarity — revealing the age of the universe (13.8 billion years), providing evidence for dark energy, observing the formation of galaxies, and producing the iconic "Pillars of Creation" image. Hubble transformed public understanding of the cosmos and remains operational after more than three decades.
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