Happy 35th birthday, Hubble Telescope! 10 times the iconic observatory blew astronomers' minds (photos)

An STS-125 crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured this still image of the Hubble Space Telescope as the two spacecraft continued their relative separation on May 19, 2009, after having been linked together for the better part of a week. .

For 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has served as humanity's tireless eye in the sky, capturing breathtaking views of the cosmos and transforming our understanding of the universe.

The school-bus-sized observatory launched on April 24, 1990 and overcame early setbacks to become one of the most scientifically productive instruments in history. From its vantage point 320 miles (515 kilometers) above Earth, the telescope has sent home more than 1.6 million observations contributing to over 21,000 scientific papers.