The Hubble Space Telescope Turns 35 As NASA Budget Cuts Loom. How Many More Birthdays Will It...

Read more: See here

Since its genesis in 1958, NASA has really speckled our corner of the cosmos with incredible feats of engineering. To this day, remnants of the historic Apollo lunar missions exist on the moon; the OSIRIS-REx probe recently placed its robotic fingerprint on a clumpy asteroid called Bennu; six different rovers have left tracks on Mars over the years with their specially designed wheels; and the twin Voyager craft are still exploring interstellar space almost 50 years after setting off from our planet.

It is unsurprising, however, that even with this repertoire of space explorers, one of the agency's most beloved spacecraft sits pretty close to home: The Hubble Space Telescope . Having launched in 1990 ⁘ and even been tended to multiple times by astronauts in space ⁘ Hubble sits right in Earth 's orbit and is responsible for some of the most visceral, data-rich and astronomically spectacular views of the cosmos we have. It has produced reminder after reminder that we live in an enchanting universe.

Hubble celebrates its 35th launch anniversary tomorrow (April 24), but there is a slight, yet tangible, damper in the air. That's because this milestone arrives amid a wave of uncertainty regarding NASA's future.

In January, SpaceNews reported some interesting news from a town hall session at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Maryland. According to the outlet, representatives with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) ⁘ the organization that handles Hubble science operations ⁘ said NASA directed the institute to "develop plans for Hubble for fiscal years 2026 through 2028 based on a budget of $83 million to $87.8 million annually." For context, that would represent a cut of more than 20% from the current costs to run the telescope and handle science operations, Julia Roman-Duval, interim head of the Hubble Space Telescope Mission Office at STScI, said during the session.

According to the SpaceNews article, Roman-Duval also said the institute has been trying to trim costs surrounding Hubble operations in 2025 by reducing efforts toward things like social media outreach for the telescope; the goal is to try not to touch Hubble's actual scientific processes while remaining within reduced budget constraints.