The Hubble Space Telescope is the most scientifically productive telescope in history. Yet, NASA is planning a successor to Hubble designed to study the origins of galaxies, stars, planets, and life in the universe. Veteran Space Shuttle astronaut Dr. Steven Hawley will share his experiences in space with the deployment and maintenance of Hubble. Astrophysicist Dr. Jonathan Gardner will discuss what the Hubble has taught us and how these results have led to plans for its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. Scheduled to launch in 2013, Webb is designed to locate the first galaxies that were formed in the distant past and to penetrate the dusty clouds of gas where stars are still forming today.

 Steven Hawley is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas. Dr. Hawley was selected as a NASA astronaut in January 1978 and logged a total of 770 hours and 27 minutes in five space flights, including STS-31 that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope and STS-82, the second HST maintenance mission. Dr. Hawley received B.A. degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California.

 Jonathan Gardner is the Chief of the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Deputy Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013. Dr. Gardner holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii, where he studied cosmology and the evolution of galaxies using infrared detectors that were being tested for use in the Hubble Space Telescope.