1. The Hubble Telescope Fast Facts

2. # 1 The Hubble Telescope travels around the Earth at a speed of 5 miles per second.

3. # 2 It was launched on April 24, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery.

4. # 3 The Hubble Telescope should remain in space for about 20 years.

5. # 4 The optical Hubble Telescope was named after Dr. Edwin P. Hubble. Dr. Hubble was the scientist who confirmed his theory of the expanding universe. This provided the foundation for the BIG Bang Theory.

6. # 5 The Hubble Telescope is 43.5 feet long and 14 feet wide. It weighs 24,500 pounds.

7. # 6 It cost 1.5 billion dollars.

8. # 7 It travels 353 miles above the Earth.

9. # 8 The Hubble Telescope transmits about 120 gigabytes of data every week.

10. # 9 It receives its energy from the sun through two 25-foot solar panels.

11. # 10 The Hubble Telescope is able to lock onto an object that it is photographing. This allows it to remain steady in order to produce a near- perfect image.