Day 5 - at Sea

Tuesday 10th October

Usual start to our day.

Then off to the Theatre to see Dr Hoffman's second talk, this one on the Hubble Space  Telescope.  The telescope almost became a billion dollar disaster for NASA, just when they were looking for funding for the International Space Station, fuzzy images!

Fortunately, the scientists found why the images were fuzzy.  An incorrect set up in the grinding of the mirror caused a tiny error in the focus.  This led to a solution being designed to make corrections and then to the space shuttle mission to fit the new parts.  The mission required 5 space walks each lasting about 8 hours.  Dr Hoffman with his partner completed 3 of the 5 space walks.  Another team of two  astronauts made the other space walks. Fortunately it was a success and the comparable images proved just what an improvement the fix made.

 

 

Dr Hoffman

 

Since then Hubble has been upgraded several times, the original was all 1970's technology and things have moved on dramatically.  Hubble has multiplied our knowledge of the universe by several thousand times, especially in deep space where images from earth based telescopes showed empty space but Hubble showed millions of galaxies.

This afternoon off to the planetarium for the "Infinity of Space" presentation.

Tonight we went to the Cunard World Club Cocktail Party for a small glass of something and a few formalities including a presentation to the most travelled guest.

Time for a light supper before retiring for the night.