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HUBBLE
TEST TELESCOPE
The
test telescope was used for a variety of tests, such as handling equipment
and procedures checkout, as shown here. It was also subjected to the
same noise and vibration (structural dynamics) that the flight telescope
would experience during launch, as well as the extreme temperatures
to be encountered in space. Technicians used it as a testbed to lay
out wiring harnesses and evaluate features that would enable the telescope
to be repaired in orbit. |
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| Before
the first servicing mission in late 1993, the crew practiced some
of the repair tasks using the test vehicle on display in the Museum.
Since then it has been refurbished to depict the orbiting Hubble Space
Telescope. |
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| Two
wing-like solar arrays provide power for the telescope. Each solar
array is 12.2 meters (40 feet) long by 2.5 meters (8 feet 2 inches)
wide. After replacement in 1993, one of them was returned to Earth
for inspection. The arrays on the test vehicle are shown in their
stowed position. |
| In
December 1993, in one of the most dramatic missions of the U.S. space
program, the STS-61 crew serviced the Hubble Space Telescope in the
payload bay of the Shuttle Endeavour. They replaced the solar arrays,
a wide-field planetary camera, and other components. They also installed
a corrective optics package to compensate for a flaw in the shape
of the primary mirror, thereby improving the telescope's performance. |
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| The
Hubble Space Telescope fits into the paylod bay of the Space Shuttle
orbiter. |
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