The infamous Hubble telescope, launched by NASA on the shuttle Discovery in 1990, proves to be an indispensable asset to the advancement of human knowledge and enlightenment. The Hubble has captured countless images of stars twinkling out of the abyss, far-away galaxies whose light has traveled over billions of light years to reach us, the remnants of supernovas exploding and has revealed the secrets and truths of our universe to physicists and astronomers. Next month the Hubble will be 25 years old.

While the high-tech machine in itself signifies an absolutely remarkable achievement of mankind, what it has revealed does nothing but humble us and make obvious our insignificance in this universe. As we gaze upon distant galaxies filled with stars just like our sun, the questions are inevitably raised as to whether or not there are other planets also like Earth orbiting those stars, and if they have life. If life exists on other planets, then intelligent species could have evolved like they did on Earth. Then where would mankind stand?

The Hubble telescope became a household name and has had an impact on more than just the scientific community. There was a public uproar when NASA decided to scrap the last maintenance mission to the telescope back in 2003 after the disaster of the shuttle Columbia. Heeding the public’s protest, NASA sent a crew on the shuttle Atlantis in 2009 to maintenance the majestic giant orbiting Earth. The service mission cost more than $1 billion but it put the beloved Hubble back in service for another ten years.