In the 1910's and 1920's, the interests in space and rocketry were high in Germany. In 1923 the German scientist Hermann Oberth, proposed an observatory in space. Oberth's interest and works in rocketry and space flight inspired rocket pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun's interest in space travel. The scientific revelations, due to scientific devices installed on rockets, balloons, and satellites in the late 1940's through the early 1960's produced enough interest to indicate how much there was to discover in space.
In 1957 the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, which was the world's first artificial satellite. One year later USA's NASA was in function, and within months of its foundation space missions were conducted. Four years after NASA's foundation, which was in 1958, the idea of constructing a large space telescope was suggested by a National Academy of Sciences study group. NASA launched a small space observatory in 1968 that orbited Earth for the purposes of measuring galaxies, planets, and stars. Three years later the beginning of studies for a 3-meter space telescope starts. In 1975 the European Space Agency joins the project, and the size of the telescope is reduced to 2.4 meters.
The development of the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA had two successful satellites designed for observing the stars, and they were launched in 1968 and in 1972. These orbiting observatories gave the scientists a huge amount of information, thus NASA gained support for an even larger and more powerful optical space telescope. In 1977 the American Congress authorized funding for the construction of the Space Telescope, which later became known as the Hubble Space Telescope. The contract to design and build the telescope were won by Space Company and Lockheed Missiles, the construction of the optical telescope instrumentation, which includes the 2.4 meter primary mirror, secondary mirror, and the three fine guidance sensors was awarded to Perkins-Elmer.