STScI Annual Report 2002: A Living Mission

STScI AR 02 | A Living Mission
foreword
The Space Telescope Science Institute was established in 1981 to conduct the
science program of the Hubble Space Telescope. Since then the Institute has helped bring about
excellence in Hubble performance, in the scientific achievements of Hubble’s users worldwide, and in
our services to NASA and the community. Our success in helping the Hubble telescope become one
of the premier scientific instruments of the 20th century has led NASA to name the Institute as
the Science and Operations Center for Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, JWST.
Our express challenge now is to optimize the scientific return from two major missions.
The opening Perspective article portrays Hubble as a living mission, sustained on the cutting edge
of science by instrument development and shuttle servicing.
The Institute’s staff is dedicated to promoting scientific discovery in their support of space
observatories. The News, Profiles, and Science Essays, each by or about an Institute staff member,
provides snapshots of who we are and what we are doing early in our third decade.
The Organization section describes the way in which we join together—in organizational groups and
in cross-cutting teams—to meet our strategic objectives and improve our performance.
We state our Vision and Strategic Goals, then describe our 2002 Achievements according to our eight
strategic goals.
Finally, as a premier scientific institution, we are pleased to end our 2002 Annual Report with a list of
Science Publications by our staff in the last year.
We thank the readers of this Annual Report for their support of our Institute as we strive for ever greater
success in serving the astronomical community and the nation’s science enterprise.
foreword 1