NASA's Greatest Missions

Part 6: A Home in Space

Billions of dollars over budget and ten years behind schedule, NASA finally launched the Hubble Space Telescope, which was expected to transform our understanding of the Universe, but it immediately became clear that NASA had a serious problem. Hubble, the all-seeing eye into deep space, was near-sighted. At the risk of becoming a laughing stock NASA sent a crack team of astronauts to fix the phenomenally costly problem. Their heroic efforts captured the public's imagination in a way not seen since the historic Moon landings, giving NASA the confidence to begin construction of the International Space Station.