Deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope

In this April 25, 1990, photograph taken by the crew of the STS-31 space shuttle mission, the Hubble Space Telescope is suspended above shuttle Discovery's cargo bay 332 nautical miles above Earth. The Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, controlled from inside the cabin by the astronaut crew members, held the huge telescope in this position during pre-deployment procedures, which included extension of solar array panels and antennae. On board the shuttle were Commander Loren J. Shriver, Pilot Charles F. Bolden, Jr. (later the NASA administrator), Mission Specialists Steven A. Hawley, Bruce McCandless II, and Kathryn D. Sullivan (later the NOAA administrator).