A dream becomes reality

Abstract

A study of the early development of what became the Hubble Space Telescope reveals the dedicated effort that drove the concept forward over a 25 year period. It began in the mid-1940s with the onset of the Cold War. By the late 1950s the theory of space flight had been established, and in the following decade it was greatly expanded upon to the point of landing men on the surface of the Moon and sending the first robots to fly close by the planets of the inner solar system. While the financial cost of such an adventure was extremely high, so too were the gains in technology, science, national pride, and political propaganda. Though the expected age of space commercialization was yet to be realized—and indeed is elusive half a century later—the birth of satellite applications suggested there would be significant rewards from studying the Earth’s resources, from space sciences, and from technological spin-offs. However, the expansion of space exploration was not as rapid as glossy publications issued by some studies had predicted.