On December 12, 1949, the last V-2 monkey flight was launched at White Sands. Albert IV, a rhesus monkey attached to monitoring instruments, was the payload. It was a successful flight, with no ill effects on the monkey until impact, when it died.

Tucked inside the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery, the 24,000-pound telescope carried five science instruments.

Once in orbit, Hawley grappled Hubble with the Shuttle’s robotic arm, carefully lifted it out of the payload bay.