[1] STScI was established in 1981 as a community-based science center that is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA).

[2] STScI's offices are located on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus and in the Rotunda building in Baltimore, Maryland.

[3] In addition to performing continuing science operations of HST and preparing for scientific exploration with JWST and Roman, STScI manages and operates the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), which holds data from numerous active and legacy missions, including HST, JWST, Kepler, TESS, Gaia, and Pan-STARRS.

The science operations activities directly serve the astronomy community, primarily in the form of HST and JWST (and eventually Roman) observations and grants, but also include distributing data from other NASA and ground-based missions via MAST.

The STScI conducts all activities required to select, schedule, and implement the science programs of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The TAC consists of about 100 members of the U.S. and international astronomical community, selected to represent a broad range of research expertise needed to evaluate the proposals.

The annual cycle of proposal calls was occasionally altered in duration in years when a HST servicing mission was scheduled.

Real-time daily flight operations for HST include about 4 command load uplinks, about 10 data downlinks, and near continuous health and safety monitoring of the observatory.

Data sets retrieved from the archive are automatically re-calibrated to ensure that the most up-to-date calibration factors and software are applied.

This plan is designed to support the selected GO observation programs for that cycle, as well as to provide a basic calibration that spans the lifetime of each instrument.

Electronic failures in STIS (in 2001) and in the ACS Wide-Field Channel (in 2007) were also repaired on-orbit in May 2009, bringing these instruments back to active status.

In the case of JWST, the STScI will be responsible for using the wavefront sensor system developed by JPL and Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST, the NASA contractor building the observatory) to monitor and adjust the segmented telescope.

STScI is responsible for developing, enhancing, and maintaining most of the ground systems used to carry out our Hubble science operations described above.

These systems originally (1980s, early 1990s) came from several sources, including in-house STScI developments and work done under NASA contracts with various vendors.

They have been through major technology upgrades (e.g., improved operating systems and computer hardware, higher capacity archive storage media).

STScI also provides subsets of ground system services to other astronomy missions, including FUSE, Kepler, and JWST.

STScI's full-time scientific staff conducts original research spanning a broad range of astrophysics including investigations of the Solar System, exoplanet detection and characterization, star formation, galaxy evolution, and physical cosmology.

The employment of an active scientific staff at STScI helps to ensure that HST, and eventually JWST, perform at peak capability.

OPO's efforts focus on meeting the needs of the media, the informal science education community, and the general public.

OPO also participates in press conferences for particularly newsworthy discoveries, and conducts science writers' workshops for in-depth sessions with scientists working on current astrophysical research problems.

In addition to news releases, OPO develops a variety of astronomy-related products and features for use by the general public and informal education venues including museums, science centers, planetariums, and libraries.

These include background articles, telescope imagery, illustrations, diagrams, infographics, videos, scientific visualizations, virtual reality, and interactives.

Most of these resources are distributed via websites developed and managed by STScI, including Hubblesite, Webbtelescope, ViewSpace, and Illuminated Universe.

OPO also provides support to informal education venues in the form of print materials, program/event resources, and professional development.

OPO's outreach efforts are conducted in partnership with the Hubble, Webb, and Roman mission offices and with other institutions under NASA's Universe of Learning.