Max Mutchler at Space Telescope Science Institute

Max Mutchler

Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Operated by AURA for NASA

Background

Max with Hubble Servicing Mission 3B astronauts John Grunsfeld and Jim Newman.

I have been at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) since the launch of Hubble in 1990. From 1988-1990, I was a graduate student at Florida Tech and the nearby Kennedy Space Center. My thesis involved a branch of artificial intelligence known as "expert systems", and a project to build robotic telescopes. I was also a physics lab instructor. I earned a Master of Science degree in Space Sciences in 1990. From 1983-1988, I was an undergraduate in the Physics and Astronomy Departments at the University of Wisconsin. As a research assistant in the Plasma Physics Lab, I helped build the Madison Symmetric Torus (see photo and diagram). I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronomy-Physics in 1988. I am originally from Racine, Wisconsin.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery on 24 April 1990, and the mission is expected to continue until 2010. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) was established by NASA at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, to operate Hubble. HST was built by Lockheed Martin, and most of its science instruments were built by Ball Aerospace. The Goddard Space Flight Center is NASA's lead center for the Hubble project. NASA and STScI are also planning for the Webb Space Telescope, to be launched around 2013.