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The astronauts that performed the recent spectacular servicing on the Hubble Space Telescope, came to visit our workplace, the Space Telescope Science Institute, on July 21, 2009.
I have never seen the Institute’s staff so excited, nor have I ever seen our cafeteria so packed. Staff members brought their families, to share in the moment. The crew [...]

Mario Livio (left) and Institute Director Matt Mountain (center) greet Servicing Mission 4 Commander Scott Altman.
The astronauts that performed the recent spectacular servicing on the Hubble Space Telescope, came to visit our workplace, the Space Telescope Science Institute, on July 21, 2009.
I have never seen the Institute’s staff so excited, nor have I ever seen our cafeteria so packed. Staff members brought their families, to share in the moment. The crew members were as wonderful as always: friendly, humorous, smart, and just so cool. Commander Scott “Scooter” Altman, with his usual generosity, told me: “You are the people who do the real work with this telescope, we are so grateful that you have allowed us to be a part of this.”
“Sure,” I replied, “but we don’t risk our lives for this work. We are the ones who are truly ...