{"id":371871,"date":"2026-02-19T05:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/explorer\/the-sky-belongs-to-all-of-us\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T05:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:23:12","slug":"the-sky-belongs-to-all-of-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=371871","title":{"rendered":"The Sky Belongs to All of Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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6 min read<\/p>\n

The Sky Belongs to All of Us<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Hashima Hasan<\/h5>\n
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How did a little girl born in India soon after its independence from the British Empire, become a program scientist for NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope, and the first female program scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), Gravity Probe B, and other astrophysics flight missions?<\/p>\n

The story starts in October 1957, when I was 7 years old, and my grandmother ordered the entire family, including my 3-year-old sister, all the servants and their families, to collect at dawn in the backyard of the home and watch Sputnik pass by the clear night skies of Lucknow.<\/p>\n

That morning, as I saw Sputnik and the dark, starry sky, I dreamt the impossible dream that one day I would be a space scientist. The path was not easy. With determination and encouragement from my mother and school teachers, I forged ahead, won a scholarship to the University of Oxford, from where I earned a doctorate in theoretical nuclear physics in 1976. The path to a traditional academic career for a female scientist was fraught with challenges, exacerbated by social pressures. After pursuing post-doctoral research, a university faculty position, crisscrossing three continents and making a home across the Atlantic three times, I found myself again on the shores of the U.S. (1985) \u2015 this time with a husband and two infant sons.<\/p>\n

My research career had oscillated between nuclear physics and environmental science, preparing me for yet another scientific challenge, when I was offered a research position at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, to write the software to simulate the optics of NASA\u2019s newest (now legendary) telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope and its science instruments. I boldly accepted the job, and under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Burrows, wrote the Telescope Image Modeling (TIM) software.<\/p>\n

Little did we know that after the launch of Hubble, TIM would be instrumental in our analysis of the first images, the identification and characterization of the spherical aberration, monitoring the focus of the telescope, and image simulations to enable scientists to analyze their aberrated data.<\/p>\n

I was appointed as the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA) scientist, and have the dubious distinction of being the first and only OTA scientist whose task was to keep the Hubble \u201cin focus\u201d until a fix could be designed. I regularly monitored the images to learn about the health of the telescope optics, degradation of filters in the Faint Object Camera, and image characteristics. The flaw in the primary mirror caused by shaving off glass from its edges no thicker than about a human hair, not only caused blurry images, but had a dramatic effect when there were minute movements of the mirror. We learned that the graphite epoxy truss that supported the primary and secondary mirrors, desorbed water faster and longer than calculations had predicted, causing minute shrinkage in the truss. This meant that approximately every 3 months the mirror had to be moved to bring it back to the \u201cbest focus\u201d established by the science community. I also participated in the design and optical testing phase of the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR). During the first servicing mission, I did a final image analysis and focusing the telescope before COSTAR was deployed. I had been allowed three attempts to focus the telescope, but I achieved it in one attempt and COSTAR was deployed ahead of schedule. The following 2 years, I continued to work on the Hubble optics, a concept for an Advanced Camera for the Hubble, and astronomical research on barred galaxies.<\/p>\n

I am proud to be a part of the NASA team that turned adversity to victory. The story of Hubble is a tribute to NASA\u2019s \u201ccan do\u201d attitude. The entire scientific, technology and human space flight community rallied around Hubble in the true \u201cExplore as One\u201d spirit to fix Hubble. The brave astronauts, who undertook the life-threatening job of servicing Hubble five times, helped make the observatory what it is today.<\/p>\n

In 1994, I was ready for a new challenge and accepted a job as visiting senior scientist at NASA Headquarters, under the wing of the fabled, Dr. Edward Weiler. Under his tutelage, I rapidly learned how to manage flight missions and research programs, lead community working groups, strategic planning, international negotiations, and other skills. By 1999, I had achieved sufficient skills and experience to be appointed as a civil servant. During my 23 years at NASA, there have been numerous memorable moments. I would like to mention some.<\/p>\n

In 1999, I was appointed as the program scientist for the Hubble, a position that I held till 2004. I provided scientific oversight to the science instruments, Wide Field Camera 3, and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), taking strategic decisions to enable development within cost and schedule. I participated in two servicing missions, SM3A and SM3B.<\/p>\n

My involvement with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started in 1995, when it was a mere concept referred to as the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), and Ed Weiler asked me to send a research grant to John Mather at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to study the concept for NGST. I was appointed NGST program scientist from 1999-2001 (and JWST program scientist from 2011-2015), and led the solicitation and selection of early technology development. I led the appointment of an Interim Science Working Group to develop the science requirement for NGST science instruments, and wrote the solicitation for the science instruments and Science Working Group. A particularly contentious negotiation we went through with our partners, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), was the partnership on the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), ended amicably. Much negotiation was held with our partners, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), concerning the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).<\/p>\n

I developed a strategy for selecting a NASA center for management of the MIRI instrument. We were conducting a review of proposals for MIRI management on the fateful day, Sept. 11, 2001. Again, we did not let adversity stop us, and today MIRI and all the other science instruments are installed on JWST. Lessons learned from Hubble development have been applied to JWST development, including complete optical testing in a specially modified chamber at Johnson Space Center (JSC). The building of JWST is another example of \u201cExplore as One,\u201d where scientists, engineers, private industry and non-U.S. space agencies have come together with the ambitious goal of learning how the first stars and galaxies were born.<\/p>\n

I would like all readers to follow their dreams as I have and not to get discouraged, as we continue exploring the Universe. The sky belongs to all of us, and NASA\u2019s tremendous scientific journey can be followed through our space missions on \u00a0https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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About the Author<\/h2>\n
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