"Moving Beyond Earth" at the Air and Space Museum

Gloves are a crucial part of the pressurized spacesuits worn to work in space. Gloves must be flexible enough for fingers to feel and move well, yet strong enough not to leak air or rip.  These Shuttle EVA gloves and Sokol pressure-suit glove are on display in the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum's Mall building. (Eric Long/NASM)

Inside the new exhibit "Moving Beyond Earth" at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.  (Eric Long/NASM, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

Shuttle astronauts used this trainer to practice the difficult task of replacing the Power Control Unit, the electrical nerve center of the Hubble Space Telescope, on a 2002 servicing mission. This artifact is on display at the "Moving Beyond Earth" exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum's Mall building. (Eric Long/NASM)

The Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR), "Contact Lenses for the Telescope," on display at the new "Moving Beyond Earth" gallery in the National Air and Space Museum's Mall building. Soon after its launch in 1990, scientists realized that the Hubble Space Telescope’s large primary mirror was flawed. It distorted images and data, making everything blurry. Shuttle crews installed this corrective optics package, called COSTAR, in 1993 and returned it to Earth in 2009. (Eric Long/NASM)

Installed on Hubble in December 1993 and designed to correct for Hubble's flawed mirror, WFPC2 was the first instrument to demonstrate the unique capability of astronomical imaging from space.  WFPC2 was returned to Earth, after more than fifteen years in orbit, in May 2009 by STS-125 Servicing Mission 4 (SM4) astronauts.  This historic instrument explored the wonders of the universe and helped rewrite how we think about the universe. WFPC2 is on display in Space Hall at the National Air and Space Museum's Mall building. ( Eric Long/NASM)

(Mark Avino/NASM, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

Installed on Hubble in December 1993 along with COSTAR, both designed to correct for Hubble's flawed mirror, WFPC2 was the first instrument to demonstrate the unique capability of astronomical imaging from space.  WFPC2 was returned to Earth, after more than fifteen years in orbit, in May 2009 by STS-125 Servicing Mission 4 (SM4) astronauts.  This historic instrument explored the wonders of the universe and helped rewrite how we think about the universe. (Eric Long/NASM, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)