NASA is planning a 120-inch reflecting telescope to be launched in the early 1980s. The Large Space Telescope will probably be the first large payload put into orbit by the 'space shuttle.' Astronomers will be able to map the recessional velocities of galaxies to see if there are any irregularities in the Hubble expansion of the universe that could be evidence for a deceleration of expansion. Moreover, because of its ability to probe the universe to magnitudes 100 times fainter than can be reached from the ground, the telescope should reveal many new objects in other galaxies.
In 1969 the National Academy of Sciences approved the Large Space Telescope project. The instrument was later renamed the Hubble Space Telescope and was launched in 1990.
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