In space, 1 billion seconds! The Hubble Space Telescope, operated by NASA, has achieved a critical milestone.

Time Flies When you are on a Iconic Space Mission.

The Hubble Space Telescope launched to Earth orbit in April 1990. (Image credit: NASA)

Hubble is still going strong.

The Hubble Space Telescope of NASA has accomplished a critical milestone in the last frontier: one billion seconds.

The famous observatory was launched on the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The following day, Hubble was launched into orbit, beginning its mission to study the wide cosmos, including distant galaxies, supernovas, nebulas, and exoplanets. The space telescope officially reached one billion seconds in orbit on Jan. 1, 2022, which is approximately 31.7 years.

"Hubble has supplied us with significant scientific discoveries and iconic photos of space for more over three decades," NASA officials said in a statement celebrating the milestone.

Here's an iconic milestone for an iconic mission: @NASAHubble officially passes the one-billion second mark in space! In case you don't have a calculator handy that's 31+ years of changing how we see and understand our universe. Follow all things Hubble: https://t.co/BxBF2AJzZE pic.twitter.com/Mf9e4BtA4H

— NASA 360 (@NASA360) January 6, 2022

NASA and the European Space Agency collaborated on the Hubble Space Telescope. Between 1993 and 2009, astronauts visited Hubble five times as part of the space shuttle program's servicing missions. The telescope's systems, including as batteries, gyroscopes, and other science instruments, were fixed, updated, and replaced throughout these missions.

In its more than 30 years of operation, the telescope, which is located high above Earth's atmosphere, has made more than 1.5 million observations. According to NASA, thousands of scientific publications have been published as a result of the telescope's discoveries.

Hubble's contributions include determining the universe's age (13.8 billion years, or three times the age of Earth) and rate of expansion; discovering Pluto's fifth moon; discovering supermassive black holes at the centres of most major galaxies; studying the effect of gravitational lensing, which has helped astronomers map the distribution of dark matter in the universe; and capturing some of the most remarkable deep-field images.

"We can only imagine what discoveries the next one billion seconds will bring as new telescopes like the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope build on Hubble's discoveries and collaborate with Hubble to expand our understanding of the universe," NASA officials said in a statement.