WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.435 [background music] 2 00:00:01.435 --> 00:00:04.171 Welcome to mission control for the iconic Hubble Space 3 00:00:04.171 --> 00:00:08.575 Telescope. This is a virtual 360 degree tour of the facility, so 4 00:00:08.575 --> 00:00:11.745 look around. You are currently in the lobby outside of the 5 00:00:11.745 --> 00:00:15.382 Space Telescope Operations Control Center at NASA’s Goddard 6 00:00:15.382 --> 00:00:18.518 Space Flight Center where the day to day operations for Hubble 7 00:00:18.518 --> 00:00:23.190 are conducted. The tour starts next to a 1/5th scale model of 8 00:00:23.190 --> 00:00:26.426 Hubble. The real telescope is about the size of a large 9 00:00:26.426 --> 00:00:31.498 school bus, and would weigh 27.000 pounds on earth. Hubble 10 00:00:31.498 --> 00:00:35.202 works like many backyard telescopes. It has two main 11 00:00:35.202 --> 00:00:37.671 mirrors to gather light from the Universe and bring it into 12 00:00:37.671 --> 00:00:42.609 focus: a primary mirror almost 8 feet across, and a secondary 13 00:00:42.609 --> 00:00:47.147 mirror that is one foot across. Light that enters the telescope 14 00:00:47.147 --> 00:00:49.783 hits the main mirror and gets reflected toward the smaller 15 00:00:49.783 --> 00:00:53.787 secondary mirror. The secondary mirror then reflects the light 16 00:00:53.787 --> 00:00:57.024 back through a small hole in the primary, where it enters 17 00:00:57.024 --> 00:00:59.826 Hubble’s science instruments housed in the back part of the 18 00:00:59.826 --> 00:01:04.097 spacecraft. Hubble has three types of instruments that 19 00:01:04.097 --> 00:01:09.102 analyze light from the universe: Cameras such as its main camera 20 00:01:09.102 --> 00:01:13.574 – the Wide Field Camera 3; spectrographs such as Hubble’s 21 00:01:13.574 --> 00:01:17.444 newest one, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph; And 22 00:01:17.444 --> 00:01:22.049 interferometers which are called Fine Guidance Sensors. In the 23 00:01:22.049 --> 00:01:25.085 middle of the spacecraft there are four 100-pound reaction 24 00:01:25.085 --> 00:01:29.423 wheels used to reorient the observatory. Based upon Newton’s 25 00:01:29.423 --> 00:01:32.626 Third Law of Motion — for every action there is an equal and 26 00:01:32.626 --> 00:01:36.630 opposite reaction — turning a reaction wheel in one direction 27 00:01:36.630 --> 00:01:40.100 causes Hubble to turn the opposite way. Because Hubble is 28 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:43.637 so massive, it only turns at the speed of a minute hand on a 29 00:01:43.637 --> 00:01:48.308 clock. On the wall you see two images of an incredible star 30 00:01:48.308 --> 00:01:51.278 nursery in the Eagle Nebula nicknamed the Pillars of 31 00:01:51.278 --> 00:01:56.049 Creation. These images, among Hubble’s most famous, reveal how 32 00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.585 different the pillars appear in visible light and in 33 00:01:58.585 --> 00:02:01.989 near-infrared light. The visible-light image shows small 34 00:02:01.989 --> 00:02:04.691 tips that contain newborn stars and budding stars. The 35 00:02:04.691 --> 00:02:07.294 near-infrared light can see through much of the gas and 36 00:02:07.294 --> 00:02:10.731 dust, revealing thousands of stars behind the nebula and 37 00:02:10.731 --> 00:02:15.135 inside the pillars. Further over, you see another image on 38 00:02:15.135 --> 00:02:19.139 the wall of astronauts in space servicing Hubble. These 39 00:02:19.139 --> 00:02:22.309 servicing missions included numerous spacewalks to help fix 40 00:02:22.309 --> 00:02:26.013 and upgrade the telescope. The astronauts left Hubble in 41 00:02:26.013 --> 00:02:29.983 outstanding condition in 2009 during the final servicing 42 00:02:29.983 --> 00:02:32.319 mission and it is still at the peak of its scientific 43 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:37.657 capability today. Over by the windows is a tool box that was 44 00:02:37.657 --> 00:02:41.795 used to transport tools into space.  Known as the Auxiliary 45 00:02:41.795 --> 00:02:45.732 Transport Module, it provided storage for the tools and safe 46 00:02:45.732 --> 00:02:47.734 passage to and from orbit, protecting the tools from the 47 00:02:47.734 --> 00:02:49.903 extreme cold of space. Two similar enclosures flew aboard 48 00:02:49.903 --> 00:00:00.000 the final Hubble servicing mission.