Hubble Space Telescope Mission A Huge Success; Orbiting Observatory Now Better Than Ever With New Sensors

Space Shuttle Atlantis is headed for Kennedy Space Center, riding atop a Boeing 747 jumbo jet instead of gliding in by itself as originally planned.

Atlantis crew members, having achieved a soaring success in the heavens with a daunting Hubble Space Telescope repair job well done, then were literally brought back to Earth – – on the wrong coast, thanks to famously fierce Florida weather.

Although Atlantis remained aloft for an extra two days in space, the Kennedy weather never would give them a break, so they were forced to deorbit and land on the West Coast at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Then NASA had to jack the shuttle up and attach it to the top of the 747 for a cross-continent piggyback ride, a move that cost the space agency an extra $1.8 million, compared to landing the shuttle at Kennedy.

Still, the Hubble repair mission was exhilarating for the crew, which had to overcome repeated challenges such as stuck bolts on the 19-year-old telescope before all the assigned repair and upgrading tasks were completed.

While riding 5.3 million miles during a lucky 13 days aloft, the crew members took a telescope that had one solidly functioning system and some others that were failing or dead, and turned it into a far more powerful eye in the sky.

In the beginning, as often is typical for the star-crossed Atlantis, there was a huge delay in liftoff. But this time, it was lucky that NASA discovered some systems on the Hubble were dead or intermittent, so replacement systems could be assembled and hauled aloft.

While Atlantis was to have begun the STS-125 Mission to the telescope last fall, that had to wait for a May 11 liftoff.

But when crew members reached the telescope, they used resourcefulness and flexibility to counter unexpected challenges.

Veteran astronaut Scott Altman commanded this final space shuttle mission to Hubble, with Gregory C. Johnson as pilot. Mission specialists included veteran spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino, and first-time space fliers Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur, who served as flight engineer operating a robotic arm.

The crew ventured into the void for spacewalks on five consecutive days, leaving Hubble set to send back even more spectacular images well into the next decade.

To mitigate the risk to the crew should Atlantis sustain damage on ascent or during the mission, space shuttle Endeavour was stationed at Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B as a standby rescue vehicle. Now, its lifeguard duty done, Endeavour is readying for its own trip aloft. (Please see separate story in this issue.)

A unique risk for Atlantis was the high orbit in which Hubble resides. It contains a higher level of debris that potentially could have struck Atlantis during the mission. Another factor was the lack of the "safe haven" normally provided by the International Space Station on other missions.

Both before and after the capture and servicing of Hubble, the astronauts conducted careful inspections of Atlantis’ exterior using the shuttle’s 50-foot-long orbiter boom sensor system attached to its 49-foot-long robotic arm. No significant damage from either launch or the days in space was found. Once mission managers gave Atlantis a clean bill of health, Endeavour was released from its standby duties.

The heart of the servicing mission — the capture of Hubble, five spacewalks and release of the refurbished telescope — spanned flight days three through nine. By the end of the last spacewalk, all the mission objectives to improve Hubble’s view of the universe and extend its life had been accomplished.

Two days after launch, Atlantis caught up to Hubble 350 miles above Earth. It was up to Altman and Johnson to bring the shuttle close enough to the telescope so that McArthur could use the robotic arm to capture it and gently place it on a rotating work stand in the payload bay. From there, the pairs of spacewalkers would conduct their work.

Both Grunsfeld and Massimino had been to Hubble before, and each was paired with a first-time spacewalker. Grunsfeld teamed with Feustel on the first, third and fifth spacewalks and Massimino worked with Good during the other two.

Each spacewalk was planned to last about 6.5 hours, but most lasted between seven and eight hours.

Here’s the breakdown of the marathon spacewalks:

First Spacewalk: Grunsfeld and Feustel installed the 900-pound Wide Field Camera 3, replaced the failed Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit, and installed the Soft Capture Mechanism, plus three latch kits to make the remaining servicing easier. Spacewalk time: seven hours and 20 minutes.

Second Spacewalk: Massimino and Good replaced all three Rate Sensor Units, each containing two gyroscopes, and also replaced a 460-pound Battery Module Unit. Spacewalk time: seven hours and 56 minutes.

Third Spacewalk: Grunsfeld and Feustel installed the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and repaired the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spacewalk time: six hours and 36 minutes.

Forth Spacewalk: Massimino and Good replaced a power supply board in the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph using special tools developed for this mission. Spacewalk time: eight hours and two minutes.

Fifth Spacewalk: Grunsfeld and Feustel replaced another of Hubble’s 460-pound Battery Module Units, removed and replaced Fine Guidance Sensor 2, and installed New Outer Blanket Layers, or insulation, on the exterior of three bays of the telescope. Spacewalk time: seven hours and two minutes.

While not without some troublesome moments, triumphant spacewalkers overcame any difficulties to accomplish all the repairs and upgrades of the challenging mission. An onboard IMAX camera captured their work for a Hubble 3-D movie due to debut next year.

The days before landing provided an opportunity for the crew to have some needed off-duty time, as well as a chance to speak to President Obama, the crew orbiting on the International Space Station, reporters back on Earth, and to testify before a U.S. Senate committee — a first-time event from space.

At the end of the final spacewalk, the moment came when human hands had touched Hubble for the last time. The STS-125 crew left the telescope ready to dazzle the world for years to come, with more scientific discoveries and stunning images now possible because of its improved view that stretches from the solar system to the far reaches of the universe, and from the present almost all the way back to the Big Bang when the universe was formed.

"This mission highlights what the challenges of spaceflight can bring out in human beings," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. "This mission required the absolute best from the shuttle team, the Hubble science and repair teams, and the crew. The results are a tribute to the entire team and the years of preparation."

Those results included swelling the Hubble discovery capabilities by as much as 70 times, while extending its lifetime through at least 2014.

Even without those huge improvements, the Hubble already has earned a lofty place in the pantheon of astronomy.

It determined the age of the universe to be 13.7 billion years. Hubble found virtually all major galaxies have black holes at their center. It discovered that the process of planetary formation is relatively common. Hubble detected the first-ever organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. And the orbiting observatory provided evidence the expansion of the universe is accelerating because of an unknown force that makes up approximately 72 percent of the matter-energy content in the universe.

But despite all those accomplishments, the Hubble telescope could have been left to decay and die, except that some members of Congress were outraged at that prospect.

Funding for the Hubble mission was finally pried out of Congress with long efforts by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee commerce, justice, science and related agencies subcommittee; Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas); and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), a former astronaut who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee science and space subcommittee. On the other side of Capitol Hill, the effort was aided by several lawmakers, including Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who chairs the space and aeronautics subcommittee, and Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee commerce, justice, science and related agencies subcommittee.