Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention (Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series)

Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman in space, recounts her work on the NASA team that launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope. Sullivan describes her experiences as part of this team, from her early life as a “Sputnik Baby” to her initiation into the space program as one of the first six women to join NASA’s astronaut corps.

She vividly describes liftoff, spacewalks, and the temporary grounding of the shuttle program after the Challenger disaster. Sullivan emphasizes the importance of “maintainability” in Hubble’s design and the work of inventing tools and processes for on-orbit maintenance. NASA’s ability to fix a serious defect in Hubble’s mirrors left literal and metaphorical “handprints on Hubble.”

(This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)