1st optical space telescope launched 28 yrs ago still works
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the world's first space-based visible-light telescope was launched on April 24, 1990 aboard space shuttle Discovery. The telescope was named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble who confirmed the universe is "expanding" after Big Bang. The $8-billion instrument helped find the age of the universe while its data has been used to publish over 15,000 research papers.