In April 1990, to much hoopla and fanfare, I remember the Hubble Telescope being launched into orbit.  For nerds and those of us with a layman’s fascination of space this was an exciting time full of promise.  While we weren’t actually going into space we were going to get glimpses of it never before seen.  I may not have understood the particulars but I did get the gist.  The expectation was thrilling.  And then, as it was in space beginning to do its job there was a problem.  To be exact, a flaw 1/50 the thickness of paper distorted the images being sent back.  By this time, there was a lot of time and a whole lotta money invested in this telescope.  It couldn’t be thwarted by a minuscule flaw. Three years later, a mission launched to fix the problem.  Since then, the Hubble telescope has being performing its mission beautifully.  It performed at its full potential. Continue reading →