Hubble huggers
No other observatory has prompted such a rush to rewrite astronomy textbooks, and not since the invention of the telescope 400 years ago has human understanding of the universe changed so significantly in such a short period of time.
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"The Hubble is the most important scientific instrument ever created and built by man," said Linnehan. "It's true. There's nothing that even comes close to Hubble in terms of the science produced and what we've discovered."
Moreover, the sheer beauty of breathtaking photos beamed back by the telescope has captured the imagination of an awed public, making Hubble a pop icon of sorts.
"It's Americana. It's like cheeseburgers and Clint Eastwood. I mean, there was a Pearl Jam CD cover a year or two back that had one of the Hubble images on it," Linnehan said.
"It just pervades everything now. And that's really impressive because this is raw science -- photographs coming down that not only are important to science, but they're beautiful. They're considered art."
That the observatory has spawned a global cult of Hubble lovers is no big surprise to Grunsfeld -- a self-proclaimed "Hubble hugger" -- or spacewalking crewmate Newman.
"I think that we all, as humans, wonder about our origins. We all have that sense of wonder looking at the stars, looking at something that is obviously much, much larger than we are. For some it's spirituality. For others, it's the marvel of science. And I think every person can connect to that," Newman said.
"Knowing that there are, in round numbers, a hundred billion stars in each of a trillion galaxies -- it boggles the mind, certainly mine. And I wonder, what's really out there? Are there other opportunities for life? And as we now find planets circling around other stars, perhaps someday there will be a glimmer of other life out there as well," he added.
"These are fundamental questions for people who are conscious -- and we're all conscious of ourselves, of our mortality. We all wonder about the bigger picture."
Hubble's new life
The big picture promises to become clearer and sharper as the Hubble repair crew sets out to equip the telescope with a next-generation planetary camera that is 10 times more powerful -- and three to four times faster -- than its predecessor.
Built at a cost of $75 million, the Advanced Camera for Surveys is capable of delving deeper into the cosmos than ever before, searching for planets around other stars as well as clusters of galaxies formed in the early universe.
Unrivaled sky surveys will be conducted with the camera to study the nature and distribution of galaxies, and its potential for monitoring weather patterns and auroras on planets in our own solar system is unmatched.
"The way I think about it is that I own a small, five-inch Schmitt telescope, and I can go out in my backyard and I can get nice views of Jupiter. I can get nice views of Saturn. I can see globular clusters. I can see the Great Nebula in Orion," said Grunsfeld.
"But if I were to go out and buy a 16-inch telescope -- a big amateur telescope -- then I could really start seeing things, I could start really exploring things that are beyond our solar system, or beyond the local group of stars, and get into looking at planetary nebula and galaxies. My view of the universe would change dramatically," he said.
"Well, that's what we're doing with the Advanced Camera for Surveys. It's that big a difference. And I really think of it as a whole new telescope."
Next page: More about what's to be done with Hubble
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