Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
3-D Test: 279.4 x 152.4 x 304.8cm (110 x 60 x 10 ft.)
Materials:
Iron and Stainless Steel
This is the original mounting cradle and associated transport and maneuvering assembly used to hold the flight primary mirror for the Hubble Space Telescope during the manufacturing and testing process. This cradle was specially designed to hold the heavy but fragile mirror when moved among different locations during the manufacturing process. A wheeled transporter was custom designed to allow the cradle-mounted mirror to be moved about and to rotate it in the vertical plane.
The assembly was manufactured by the Perkin Elmer Company. It was donated to NASM by NASA by Raytheon, the successor organization, in 2000. The cradle is currently displayed the Explore the Universe Gallery where it holds the backup Hubble Space Telescope Mirror. It was slightly modified for display. The transporter and its associated parts are stored at the Garber facility.
Transferred from the Raytheon Company through NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center.
