Edwin Hubble was born in 1889 in Marshfield, MO. He would grow up to become one of the most ground breaking astronomers the modern world has seen. Prior to Hubble, scientists believed that the Milky Way was the only galaxy in the universe. In the 1920s, Hubble discovered the Andromeda Galaxy, and thus was the first scientist to propose that the universe was filled with many galaxies, not just the Milky Way. In addition to being an astronomer, he was also a skilled athlete, was a Rhodes Scholar, and served in the Army in both WWI and WWII. He died in 1953 at the age of 63.

NASA has set up a website dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of the Hubble Telescope. It is an amazing site to explore, and the images are breathtaking. They've even created a site where you can see an image of the universe that was taken on your birthday!

To mark the 10th anniversary, in the year 2000, the USPS released Hubble Telescope stamps. (I still have a few left in our classroom!)

The Space Shuttle Discovery was retired on March 9, 2011. It now lives at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. This is the companion site to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, where you can visit the Discovery Shuttle and other very large aircraft in person!

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