Question 1

True or false: Hubble was designed to be serviced by astronauts, a key feature for its longevity.

Accepted Answer

True. Unlike most satellites, Hubble had modular instruments and handrails for spacewalk repairs, enabling five servicing missions.

Question 2

True or false: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Accepted Answer

True. Hubble launched on STS-31 mission, with Discovery carrying it into orbit on that exact date.

Question 3

True or false: The Hubble telescope was named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, who discovered the Big Bang.

Accepted Answer

False. Edwin Hubble proved the universe expanding, but the Big Bang theory was developed by Georges Lemaître and others.

Question 4

True or false: Hubble's primary mirror was perfectly polished from the start, requiring no adjustments.

Accepted Answer

False. The mirror had a spherical aberration—2.2 microns too flat—causing blurry images until corrected in 1993.

Question 5

True or false: Hubble was originally planned to launch in 1983, but the Challenger disaster delayed it until 1990.

Accepted Answer

True. Technical issues and the 1986 Challenger tragedy pushed Hubble's launch seven years past its initial target.

Question 6

True or false: Hubble's launch cost was under $1 billion, making it one of NASA's cheapest big missions.

Accepted Answer

False. Hubble's total cost exceeded $1.5 billion by launch (in 1990 dollars), ballooning due to delays and overruns.

Question 7

True or false: The Hubble Space Telescope was the first telescope ever placed in space by NASA.

Accepted Answer

False. NASA's Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO-2) launched in 1968, predating Hubble by over two decades.

Question 8

True or false: Hubble's first image after launch was of a star cluster, but it was disappointingly blurry.

Accepted Answer

True. The first image, of NGC 3532, revealed the mirror defect—a fuzzy mess that shocked engineers.

Hubble Space Telescope launch Trivia Questions