Hubble Space Telescope in space with the curve of Earth and the blackness of space in the background.

HST Separation from Shuttle Columbia

The Hubble Space Telescope, sporting new rigid solar arrays and other new hardware, separates from the Space Shuttle Columbia. The STS-109 crew deployed the telescope back into space at 4:04 a.m. CST on March 9, 2002. Two astronaut teams had conducted five spacewalks to service and upgrade Hubble.

Credits: NASA