Way longer than that. The first KH-11 satellites that Hubble shares its design with were in orbit in the late 1970s.
It occurs to me that projecting the image of NASA struggling (but always successfully) to deploy this kind of tech might intended be a part of the cover.
For historical details of some of the subsystems/stuff that ended up in this category of craft, google "history of Ball aerospace" or "eastman kodak NRO history"
For instance: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5003/1