This Day in History: 1990-04-25

The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in orbit from the space shuttle Discovery. This achievement was due largely to the efforts of Nancy Roman, who had been NASA’s leading advocate for the power of space astronomy for a decade and a half, had made its first satellites a reality, and had gathered support and funding for the Hubble Space Telescope, but the mid-1970s saw her pushed increasingly from the centre of the action. In 1974 a reorganization of NASA placed her one step lower in the administrative hierarchy, with a new overseer who redistributed the work she used to do to other people, even those who technically ranked below her. With less to do, and finding little support from the astronomical community that still rankled from her frank approach to project rejection, she retired from in 1980.