---
title: "Good News: NASA Says It Managed to Fix the Hubble Space Telescope"
description: "After a month-long saga, NASA says that the iconic Hubble Space Telescope is back online after it switched to a backup computer system."
date: "2021-07-16"
modified: "2021-07-16"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-fixes-hubble-space-telescope"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "hubble"
  - "NASA"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Good News: NASA Says It Managed to Fix the Hubble Space Telescope

![After a month-long saga, NASA says that the iconic Hubble Space Telescope is back online after it switched to a backup computer system.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/hubble.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA / Futurism\</em\>*

## Lease on Life

After a month-long saga, NASA says that the iconic Hubble Space Telescope is back online.

"Hubble is back!" said Tom Brown, the head of the Hubble Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said this morning in an [email obtained by *Science*](<https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/07/hubble-back-famed-space-telescope-has-new-lease-life-after-computer-swap-appears-fix>).

## Soap Hubble

The 31-year-old space telescope [went dark in mid-June](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-hubble-telescope-software-glitch-safe-mode>) after its computer control system went down. Initial attempts to resuscitate the orbital observatory were unsuccessful, leading to the [possibility that it was dead for good](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hubble-dead-forever>).

But NASA had more tricks up its sleeve, ultimately [settling on a plan](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hope-nasa-broken-hubble-space-telescope>) to switch over to a backup computer installed by a Space Shuttle crew in 2009 — which, as of today, officials say was successful.

## Thank U, Next

According to a NASA update this morning, the space agency is now monitoring the backup system to ensure that it's working properly. It's also switching the telescope's science instruments back out of safe mode.

The long term prognosis of the Hubble is less clear, though. Back in the days of the Shuttle program, NASA could send astronauts to [physically repair the space telescope](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-still-trying-to-fix-damaged-hubble>). But now it has no spacecraft capable of reaching it — meaning that the next hardware problem could knock it offline for good.

**READ MORE:** [‘Hubble is back!’ Famed space telescope has new lease on life after computer swap appears to fix glitch](<https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/07/hubble-back-famed-space-telescope-has-new-lease-life-after-computer-swap-appears-fix>)

**More on the Hubble:** [*There’s Officially Hope for NASA’s Broken Hubble Space Telescope*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hope-nasa-broken-hubble-space-telescope>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)