The Hubble Wars: Astrophysics Meets Astropolitics in the Two-Billion-Dollar Struggle Over the Hubble Space Telescope

An astrophysicist on the senior staff of NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute team, Chaisson was centrally involved in the extensive testing and deploying of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990. The orbiting observatory, designed to measure distance in deep space with great precision, was the subject of bickering and power-juggling among government agencies, academic astronomers and project engineers. Chaisson, who kept a log of his own work with this profoundly complex, nearly 20-year-long project, offers an observant account of the development and difficulties attached to Hubble's progress, including the problems related to its early orbiting and the flaws discovered in its crucial 94.5-inch primary mirror. Careful to protect related military-intelligence secrets and teasing readers with allusions to the military's large, and largely deleterious, role in the project, Chaisson mitigates the expose aspect of his report. Amateur astronomers, however, will surely reflect the same glee Chaisson demonstrates as they follow his abundantly illustrated chronicle of this ``Big Science'' effort. (May)