Liftoff Videos

Every mission, with the videos that tell it

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9 videos

  1. How Webb Works: Infrared Design, Build and Ariane 5 Launch

    Mission: 2021Published: 20 Dec 2024

    An animated explainer of how space telescopes work, comparing Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope.

    View mission: James Webb Space Telescope (2021)
    Launch site
    Guiana Space Center, French Guiana
    Outcome
    In progress

  2. Hubble Servicing Mission: How Endeavour’s Crew Fixed the Mirror

    Mission: 1993Published: 31 Oct 2021

    A documentary on the first Hubble servicing mission, flown on Space Shuttle Endeavour, which set out to correct the telescope's flawed mirror and replace failing hardware.

    View mission: Hubble Servicing Mission 1 (1993)
    Outcome
    Success

  3. Hubble Servicing Mission 4: From Cancellation to Final Repair

    Published: 11 May 2021

    Servicing Mission 4 was the fifth and final servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope.

    View mission: Hubble Servicing Mission 4
    Outcome
    Success

  4. Hubble’s Flawed Mirror: How COSTAR Fixed It After Launch

    Published: 24 Apr 2021

    Space Shuttle Discovery launched the Hubble telescope on 24 April 1990, but its 2.5 meter main mirror had a small flaw that made images blurry.

    View mission: Hubble Space Telescope
    Outcome
    Partial success

  5. STS-109: Columbia’s Hubble Upgrade and the Leaking Spacesuit

    Published: 1 Mar 2021

    NASA's Servicing Mission 3B, flown on space shuttle Columbia as STS-109, was the fourth visit to the Hubble Space Telescope and lasted 12 days with five spacewalks.

    View mission: STS-109 Hubble Servicing Mission 3B
    Outcome
    Success

  6. STS-82: How Discovery’s Crew Gave Hubble Infrared Vision

    Mission: 1997Published: 16 Feb 2021

    Servicing Mission 2 to the Hubble Space Telescope launched on Feb.

    View mission: STS-82 Hubble Servicing Mission 2 (1997)
    Outcome
    Success

  7. Hubble Space Telescope: The Flawed Mirror and Costar Repair

    Published: 1 Aug 2018

    This documentary traces how the Hubble Space Telescope was built after the Challenger loss, launched on the shuttle Discovery, and found to have a flawed mirror.

    View mission: Hubble Space Telescope
    Outcome
    Success

  8. Fixing Hubble: Cepollina on Five Servicing Missions and COSTAR

    Published: 14 May 2015

    Frank Cepollina of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center gives a Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum lecture on the five Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions.

    View mission: Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions

  9. Hubble Servicing Mission 4: Final Shuttle Repair Plans Explained

    Published: 18 Jan 2009

    A preview of Servicing Mission 4, the fifth and final shuttle visit to the Hubble Space Telescope.

    View mission: Hubble Servicing Mission 4