scope:

Description of Driving Event:

The Hubble Space Telescope did not perform to the requirements of the contract. A spherical aberration was attributed to the spacing between the field lens and the lower mirror of the Reflective Null Corrector. It was concluded that the problems would likely have been discovered by Quality Assurance oversight if these functions had been conducted in accordance with the Product Assurance Plan and monitored by personnel trained in optical technology. There were other problems, which were not as drastic as the spherical aberration, which probably would have been discovered also. These problems led to considerable embarrassment to NASA, expenditure of additional funds to determine the cause and plan for on-orbit repair, and a reduced scientific return.