Hey, space nerds. Welcome to NASA's Curious Universe. I'm your host, Patty Boyd.

And I'm your co-host, Jacob Pinter. This is an official NASA podcast. And we're bringing you on adventures through the wild and wonderful universe we all share. So buckle up and let's go. We're so glad you're here,

especially if you're new to curious universe. Welcome.

Okay, Patty, I have been working on something that I think you in particular are going to like,

because today's story is all about the Hubble Space Telescope. Oh, I love it. I mean,

talk about a telescope that can literally take you from our solar system

all the way out to the edges of the Milky Way galaxy

and then to the edge of the universe.

Well, it's really a treat that you're here to help us out with your background today, too,

because even though most of us see these beautiful images from Hubble, what we don't see is how much work it takes to make all of that possible.

Right. When it launched in 1990, Hubble was the culmination of one of the biggest

what-if questions in astronomy. What if we put a powerful telescope in orbit above Earth's

turbulent atmosphere, which can blur out our view of the cosmos and block some wavelengths of light?

Scientists were sure that because of those improvements, this telescope would help us see the universe in a whole new way.

And that is exactly what happened.

For the past 35 years, it has taken an incredible team of

humans to get the most out of Hubble. There are the people who built the telescope and launched it.

People who watch it constantly and send instructions from Earth when something goes wrong.

People like you, Patty, who makes sense of the science data, and even a few select

people who flew to space and fixed Hubble with their own two hands. So that's what this story's

about. We're going behind the scenes, and we're going to hear how people keep this mission going.

It's the perfect combination of technology that only NASA can do and people power, teamwork.

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