Life With Hubble: An insider's view of the world's most famous telescope

Description

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important scientific and engineering endeavors of our time. It has given humankind the first truly clear view of the heavens and has revolutionized almost every area of modern astronomy. The author this text, David Leckrone, worked as a project scientist on Hubble for 33 years. From 1992-2009 he was the Senior Project Scientist for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. In that role he had an insider's view of the trials and triumphs of the Hubble mission, including its extraordinary scientific discoveries and the personal journeys of the astronomers who made them, the adventure of five successful shuttle-based servicing missions, and the quiet heroism of the many scientists, engineers and managers who rose to the occasion when Hubble was in trouble. This book is loosely a personal memoir but can more accurately be called a "Hubble family memoir" for which Leckrone serves as narrator. Based on numerous interviews and personal observations, Life With Hubble tells the human stories and describes the professional achievements of scores of talented and dedicated individuals who made major contributions to the Hubble legacy. It spans the years from 1990, when Hubble was launched and when the affliction of spherical aberration was discovered in its optics, through the final servicing mission in 2009 and up to the present day. There are also numerous flashbacks from earlier years. This book is aimed at an informed, non-professional audience, including those who have followed the saga of Hubble throughout its lifetime. Key Features Gives an informed, behind the scenes narrative, telling an interesting and historically important story Aimed at both a general audience, and interested members of the astronomical community Gives cogent, understandable scientific explanations Well illustrated with historically relevant photos and Hubble imagery Based on extensive recorded interviews with key scientists and engineers PRELIMS.pdf Preface Acknowledgements Author Biography David S Leckrone For Additional Information CH001.pdf Chapter 1 A Small Error: The Origin of Spherical Aberration References CH002.pdf Chapter 2 The Road to Redemption: Learning to Service in Space CH003.pdf Chapter 3 The Sharper Image: Correcting Spherical Aberration CH004.pdf Chapter 4 Leading the Way: Preparing to Service Hubble References CH005.pdf Chapter 5 To the Rescue: The First Servicing Mission References CH006.pdf Chapter 6 Transfiguration: Life Without Spherical Aberration CH007.pdf Chapter 7 Once in a Thousand Years: Preparing for Comet S/L-9 CH008.pdf Chapter 8 When Worlds Collide: The Comet Campaign References CH009.pdf Chapter 9 From Darkness to Light: Black Holes and Quasars References CH010.pdf Chapter 10 How High Is the Sky? Measuring the Universe References CH011.pdf Chapter 11 You Can Almost See Forever: The Hubble Deep Fields References CH012.pdf Chapter 12 A Bad Sunburn: The Second Servicing Mission CH013.pdf Chapter 13 Resurrection: The NICMOS Saga Reference CH014.pdf Chapter 14 Racing Y2K: Servicing Mission 3a CH015.pdf Chapter 15 Dangerous Liaison: Servicing Mission 3b Reference CH016.pdf Chapter 16 Stormy Weather: Hubble Under Siege References CH017.pdf Chapter 17 Replenishing the Toolbox: The Science Instruments of SM4 CH018.pdf Chapter 18 A New Beginning: The Last Servicing Mission CH019.pdf Chapter 19 Worlds Without End: Exploring Exoplanets References CH020.pdf Chapter 20 The Fathomless Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy References CH021.pdf Chapter 21 Epilogue