The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1989, was supposed to last 15 years. But the remarkable scientific instrument is still pumping out intense, revealing images from across the universe 27 years later thanks to a dedicated astronaut who has risked his life to repair it three times. Bill Whitaker reports on the fantastic images still amazing scientists and speaks to astronaut John Grunsfeld – dubbed the "Hubble repairman" – on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT.
"Hubble repairman" John Grunsfeld
NASA
Grunsfeld has been on three of the five Space Shuttle missions to the school-bus size telescope orbiting the Earth. "Just about anything that we can easily change and upgrade and fix has been fixed," says Grunsfeld. "It is like a new telescope."
Any space mission is risky. Grunsfeld thinks the efforts are worth it and gets great satisfaction out of his contribution to space exploration. Besides, he says, it's fun. Whitaker points out the big smile on his face in pictures from his last mission. "You know, I can't imagine anywhere I'd rather be than outside the space shuttle in my space suit next to the Hubble Space Telescope. I was just so happy."
Grunsfeld tells Whitaker he's confident the Hubble Space Telescope will continue to function another three to five years. But another telescope, larger and expected to be even more revealing than Hubble, is set to be launched in 2019 that will eventually take the Hubble's place. This excites Grunsfeld.
"The James Webb Space Telescope was specifically designed to see the first stars and galaxies that were formed in the universe," says Grunsfeld. "So we're going to see the snapshot of when stars started. When galaxies started. The very first moments of the universe. And my bet? There's going to be some big surprises."
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