Documentary Director to Speak at AACC on Hubble Film

Hear documentary director David Gaynes tell the story of how ordinary people rallied to save the Hubble Space Telescope from becoming space junk when he brings his documentary Saving Hubble to Anne Arundel Community College on Nov. 14.

Participants will get a rare chance to watch the documentary and then speak with its director. The documentary was also shown at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. In addition to Gaynes, some local scientists who work on the Hubble will also be on hand.

The 70-minute documentary gives a behind-the-scenes look at the aftermath of NASA’s 2004 announcement that the cost of fixing the aging Hubble was too high, according to a release.

After 14 years of providing images and detailed data about the universe, NASA planned to allow the Hubble telescope to fade away in space.

Jeff Foust, editor of The Space Review, called the public outcry to save the Hubble “one of the most remarkable space grassroots advocacy efforts of the last decade,” according to a release.

The lobbying was so intense that NASA reversed its decision in 2006 and the STS-125 shuttle crew carried out the Hubble servicing mission in 2009.

The free screening is sponsored by the AACC Astronomy Club and is scheduled from 4-6 p.m. Nov. 14, in the Humanities Building Room 112, on the Arnold campus, 101 College Parkway.

For more information, contact Beth Hufnagel, an AACC professor of astronomy and faculty adviser for the club at brhufnagel@aacc.eduor at 410-777-2271.