Longest operational lifespan for a space observatory

The longest-lived space observatory is the Hubble Space Telescope (USA), which was launched on 24 April 1990 and is still active as of 24 April 2022. This means its elapsed mission duration stands at 32 years.

Over the course of its 32-year lifespan, Hubble has been instrumental in many important astronomical discoveries. An estimated 15,000 scientific papers have been published analyzing Hubble observations.

The long life of the Hubble Space Telescope is largely a consequence of the five servicing missions that were flown to the telescope between 1991 and 1999. During these missions Space Shuttle crews would replace malfunctioning components and upgrade others. Since the retirement of the Shuttle in 2010, however, Hubble has been relying on its various redundant backup systems as the primaries fail.