Profile America — Friday, November 20th. The town of Marshfield, Missouri, is celebrating the birthday of its most famous son today — a man who opened the eyes of the world to the vastness and complexity of space. Edwin Hubble’s groundbreaking observations brought distant galaxies and the expanding universe into our consciousness. The sophisticated space telescope named for him was launched in April 1990 and has revolutionized our understanding of astronomy, just as Hubble himself did a half century before. The Hubble space telescope was placed in orbit and then upgraded on several occasions by crews aboard America’s space shuttles. NASA’s budget for this year includes nearly $3 billion for continued shuttle missions.

Profile America is beginning its 13th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2009, p. 556
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 792
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009edition.html