Hubble Space Telescope data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center controls the spacecraft. Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the "Challenger" disaster (1986). When finally launched in 1990, Hubble's main mirror was found to have spherical aberration, compromising the telescope's capabilities. The optics were corrected to their intended quality by a servicing mission in 1993. Hubble is the only telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. After launch by in 1990, five subsequent Space Shuttle missions
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster orbiter prevented safe reentry. The shuttle's main fuel tank is covered in thermal insulation foam intended to prevent ice from forming when the tank is full of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Such ice could damage the shuttle if shed during lift-off. Mission STS-107 was the 113th Space Shuttle launch. Planned to begin on January 11, 2001, the mission was delayed 18 times and eventually launched on January 16, 2003, following STS-113. (The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that this delay had nothing to do with the catastrophic failure.) 81.7 seconds after launch from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39-A, a suitcase-sized piece