Hubble in 1990 was a punchline, a space fiasco whose name rhymed with trouble. This highly touted telescope was designed to escape Earth’s blurry atmosphere, yet its creators were shocked to learn that it was cruelly nearsighted from a minuscule flaw in its lens. Enter JPL scientists and engineers, who offered up an ingenious solution to Hubble's woes. But would it work? Just one adventure in the nineties for JPL, Hubble summed up what would be a decade of striking achievements and deeply disappointing setbacks, an era when new opportunities to explore the cosmos collided with the constraints of shrinking budgets. The Magellan craft, nicknamed Salvage I for recycled parts, barely survived its arrival at Venus. Galileo, destined for Jupiter and at the time the world’s most sophisticated spacecraft, skirted mission failure when its main communications antenna refused to unfurl. And Mars Observer, the first mission to the Red Planet in nearly two decades, would mysteriously disappear just before settling into orbit. All of these missions, those that succeeded and those that failed, shared the pure spirit of the epic journey of discovery, and the indomitable ingenuity of engineers striving to rescue machines lofted far from the foundries of their builders. Speaker: Blaine Baggett, Director for Communications and Education, JPL Source: www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.php?year=2017&month=5 Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech General Information The Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, named after JPL's founder, and presented by JPL's Office of Communication and Education, brings the excitement of the space program's missions, instruments and other technologies to both JPL employees and the local community. Lectures take place twice per month, on consecutive Thursdays and Fridays. The Thursday lectures take place in JPL's Theodore von Kármán Auditorium and are streamed live via Ustream, and Friday lectures take place at Pasadena City College's Vosloh Forum. Both start at 7:00 PM. Admission and parking are free for all lectures, no reservations are required, and seating is limited. Support the Channel vie BOOK DEPOSITARY Shopping Book Depository: Millions of books with free delivery worldwide www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=Booklibrary FOLLOW THE CHANNEL ON TWITTER twitter.com/FREESPACELIVE Enjoy, Share, Like and Subscribe:)

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