{"id":54614,"date":"2024-02-07T09:33:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T09:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/83b00178-0e6f-4cb3-9e80-f8627950b570"},"modified":"2024-02-07T10:32:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T10:32:32","slug":"6-mistakes-and-accidents-in-the-history-of-space-exploration","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/6-mistakes-and-accidents-in-the-history-of-space-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"6 mistakes and accidents in the history of space exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slip-ups can happen anywhere, including space, where not everything always goes to plan. <\/p>

By Jon Powell\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 07 February 2024 at 09:33 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Science fiction may have informed us in 1979 via Alien<\/i> that \u201cIn space no one can hear you scream\u201d, but the verbal anguish from control centres here on Earth when space missions go wrong has at times been all too loud and clear.<\/p>

Journeying into and exploring space is tricky. That much should be clear to just about anyone, and throughout the history of space exploration there have been numerous mistakes, accidents and errors that have taught us some valuable lessons.<\/p>

Here are 6 of the biggest mistakes, accidents and errors to have occurred in the Space Age.<\/p>

Space mistakes, accidents and errors<\/strong><\/h2>

Hubble’s blurry vision<\/strong><\/h3>
One of the biggest space mistakes? Spiral galaxy M100. Left: image taken in 1993 with Hubble’s flawed primary mirror. Right: image taken by the Wide Field Camera-3 after it was installed in 2009. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Take the Hubble Space Telescope<\/strong><\/a>. Anticipation surrounding the launch of the Earth-orbiting observatory was immense, and all eyes were on its first images.<\/p>

However, it was soon apparent after the $1.5 billion instrument was deployed in April 1990 that something was awry: the long-awaited crystal-clear views of the heavens looked worryingly blurry.<\/p>

The cause of the Hubble Space Telescope’s blurry vision was spherical aberration in its primary mirror.<\/p>

Instead of a sequence of glorious pictures, Hubble squinted hopelessly into the distance.<\/p>

But a 1993 spacewalk corrected the flaw in Hubble’s mirror<\/a>, just 1\/50th the thickness of a human hair, and the telescope has exceeded expectations ever since.<\/p>