It’s been 20 years since the shuttle Discovery ferried the Hubble Space Telescope into the heavens on 24th April 1990, the telescope opened up the vast Universe and captured the imaginations of generations.

Hubble was a great leap forward in space exploration as it didn’t have to contend with atmospheric issues like its brethren on Earth.

It did have problems of its own though – but as a result – repairs improved the quality, giving us images like this detailed view of Mars in 1997.

It also looked deeper into the unknown, showing us ancient galaxies and stellar nurseries – like the Carina Nebula 7,500 light years away.

The existence of an anti-gravity force known as “dark energy” also came to light thanks to the Hubble.

While NASA is going through a shake up under U.S. President Barack Obama, more telescopes are planning to provide Hubble with a little company and eventually a replacement.