Handprints on Hubble

The first American woman to walk in space recounts her experience as part of the team that launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe. Sullivan, a retired astronaut, describes her work on the NASA team that made all of this possible. She recounts how she and other astronauts, engineers, and scientists launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built. Along the way Sullivan chronicles her path to NASA through oceanography, her initiation into the space program, and recounts the temporary grounding of the shuttle program after the Challenger disaster. She also describes the work of inventing the tools and processes that made on-orbit maintenance possible. -- adapted from jacket