NASA Offers Live Interviews With Hubble Experts For 20th Anniversary

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Apr 21, 2010, 10:39 ET

WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the eve of the Hubble Space Telescope's 20th anniversary, NASA will offer live satellite interviews with two of the telescope's premier scientists: Ed Weiler, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, and former astronaut John Grunsfeld. Interviews are available from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 23.

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To participate, reporters should contact Al Feinberg at 202-358-1058 by noon on Thursday.

Weiler has worked on the Hubble project since the mid-1970s, while Grunsfeld, who is now deputy director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, participated in three spaceflights to service the observatory.

Hubble was launched April 24, 1990, as the world's first space-based optical telescope. Weiler and Grunsfeld will discuss the challenges and successes during its two decades in orbit. Hubble's observations have provided the deepest views of the cosmos ever and captured the minds and imaginations of people around the world.

Friday's interviews will be conducted on the NASA TV Live Interactive Media Outlet Channel and carried live on the NASA TV Public and Media Channels. For NASA TV coordinates and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

http://www.hubblesite.org

SOURCE NASA