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Camera That Saved Hubble To Be Displayed In SoCal

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Nov 21, 2009 3:38 pm US/Pacific

Camera That Saved Hubble To Be Displayed In SoCal

PASADENA The famous camera that fixed the Hubble Space Telescope -- made in Pasadena -- has been retrieved from the orbiting telescope and will go on temporary exhibit next year in Southern California, the Jet Propulsion Lab has announced.

Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis retrieved the camera from the orbiting Hubble telescope last summer, when it was replaced with new optics. The camera is the size of a grand piano, and has just been put on temporary display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.

"This was the camera that saved Hubble," said Ed Weiler, a NASA administrator.

While orbiting millions of miles around earth over 15 years, the camera captured 135,000 images, including some famous ones printed on science textbook covers, posters, and Internet pages around the globe.

When the orbiting telescope was launched in 1990, scientists were shocked to find out the camera lens was off by 2.2 microns, about one fiftieth the thickness of a human hair. Scientists at the JPL scrambled to build a second Wide Field and Planetary Camera, and the giant instrument was rocketed into space aboard the shuttle Endeavour.

Astronauts affixed it to Hubble in the first zero-gravity satellite repair ever. The new camera performed beyond expectations, but computer and sensor advances meant it was outdated, and the new lens itself was replaced last summer.

NASA has not yet determined where the camera will be exhibited in California, but it plans to permanently lend the device to the Smithsonian after its local tour.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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