Construction of Hubble Space Telescope was completed in 1985. The launch of Hubble was delayed due to the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Hubble was launched on the space shuttle on April 25, 1990.

Within days Hubble was sending back pictures that were out of focus. NASA discovered a major flaw in the giant mirror. The giant mirror was too flat on one edge by 1 / 50th of the width of a single human hair.
In December, 1993, the Space Shuttle Endeavor captured and modified the Hubble Space Telescope by adding a camera to correct problems with the telescope's primary mirror.

The second servicing mission was in February 1997. Astronauts exchanged some of Hubble's instruments and added new blankets to keep Hubble warm.

On October 1997, NASA decided to extend Hubble's operations from 2005 to 2010.

On November 13, 1999, a fourth gyroscope on Hubble fails. The Hubble shuts down to await a repair mission since it can no longer aim. Space Shuttle mission repairs the Hubble and upgrades it.