NASA Clears Atlantis for Monday Launch to Hubble

[Hum]

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) -- After months of delay, NASA cleared space shuttle Atlantis for a Monday launch to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Mission managers concluded Saturday that Atlantis is ready to take off on the long-awaited Hubble repair mission, the fifth and final one. Shuttle Endeavour is also in good shape at the other launch pad; it's on standby in case Atlantis is damaged during the flight and its seven astronauts need to be rescued.

Weather forecasters gave good odds for launching Atlantis: 80 percent. What's more, things were looking more encouraging at the emergency landing site in Spain, where only a slight chance of rain is expected Monday. Liftoff time is just after 2 p.m.

Atlantis' crew will perform five spacewalks on consecutive days to install new cameras and equipment at Hubble, and to repair some broken science instruments.

The mission had been scheduled for last October, but a critical failure at the orbiting observatory put everything on hold.

''Atlantis has been on the ground for a while, so that team is really anxious to fly. Hopefully, we'll do that Monday,'' said launch director Mike Leinbach.

Astronauts last visited Hubble in 2002. NASA wants to replace some of the telescope's old parts -- like batteries and gyroscopes -- so it will keep beaming back breathtaking views of the cosmos for another five to 10 years. Scientists expect those pictures to be even more spectacular -- and go even further back in time -- with the addition of new science instruments going up on Atlantis.

Altogether, the mission is costing NASA just over $1 billion.

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[Hum]

Hubble: From Cosmic Joke to Cherished Eye in Space

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Using the power of pictures, the Hubble Space Telescope has snapped away at the mystery of the universe.

For 19 years, Hubble has shown the epic violence of crashing galaxies, spied on the birth and death of stars, taught cosmic lessons, and even provided comic relief.

In Hubble's photos, believers witness the hand of God, nonbelievers see astronomy in action, and artists discover galaxies worthy of galleries.

Now, Hubble is set to get its fifth and final fix-up. If all goes as planned, space shuttle Atlantis will lift off Monday on a flight to the orbiting telescope 350 miles above Earth. In five painstaking spacewalks, astronauts will repair and replace broken instruments, add a new long-gazing camera, and then say goodbye forever to Hubble. If it all works, Hubble will get another five to seven years of life, before it is remote-control steered into a watery grave.

Hubble doesn't just illustrate the story of the universe. It has its own story, complete with failure and redemption.

Senior Hubble scientist Mario Livio rhapsodized about the drama of Hubble's own story, ''turning something that could have been the biggest scientific fiasco to the biggest scientific success.''

After its launch into space in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was stuck with blurry vision because its mirror wasn't quite right. It was the butt of jokes by late night comics; an editorial cartoon said its designer was Mr. Magoo, a nearsighted cartoon character. It seemed like a massively overbudget screw-up.

But once it was fixed three-and-a-half years later with a new set of glasses, Hubble shed its myopic reputation. It began producing far-sighted images of space that seemed more art then astronomy.

Hubble helped pinpoint the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years, explain what's in it, and show where it is going. Its photos hinted that as a planet, Earth may not be alone. Just one picture of warped distant galaxies provided visual proof of Einstein's general relativity theory.

''Hubble actually allows our human minds and spirits to travel light-years, even billions of light-years,''

said NASA sciences chief Ed Weiler. The photo ''Hubble Ultra Deep Field'' views a time when the universe was about 700 million years old, so the stars in it are 13 billion light-years away. One light-year is 5.9 trillion miles.

A new camera to be installed in this flight should enable astronomers to look an extra 200 million light-years farther back, said Hubble chief scientist David Leckrone. He said if everything goes well with the repair mission, Hubble will be at its sharpest ever.

It was a Hubble image in 1995 that forever restored the telescope's tarnished early reputation. The picture was Eagle Nebula. It was stunning, with beautiful colors and dramatic clouds where stars formed. NASA called it ''the pillars of creation.''

And the public, which once snickered at Hubble, now was smitten.

Hubble has snapped 570,000 pictures, and while some catch the birth of stars and planets, others capture the other end of life -- death and violence on a cosmic scale.

''We have 20 gorgeous images of stars like our sun dying,'' said Hubble astronomer Frank Summers. ''They are just amazing. It boggles the mind to think that stars that are so similar can die in such different ways.''

When age finally caught up with Hubble -- it was designed to last 10 to 15 years -- NASA first decided the telescope would just have to slowly die. An astronaut repair mission was deemed too risky during the time period shortly after the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster, which claimed seven astronauts. But ultimately, public opinion and politicians persuaded NASA to change its mind. Sentiment and the promise of more stunning images beat out calculations of risk and cost.

''It has truly become an icon of American life,'' said Weiler, the public face of Hubble since its launch.

While the public loves Hubble from afar, those who know it up close find it has a personality.

''It's almost impossible not to start feeling like Hubble is a living being,'' said astronaut John Grunsfeld who has repaired the telescope twice already and is slated to get under Hubble's hood a third time. ''It's just another satellite, but once you've worked in the program and are smitten with it, it is very easy to start adding personality to Hubble.

''I do feel like ... I'm going to visit an old friend that I haven't seen in a long time that will be a little bit weathered, a little bit older,'' Grunsfeld said in a news conference last fall. NASA hasn't visited Hubble for seven years and is expecting many signs of wear and tear, including holes from space junk.

The telescope has been anything but cheap. NASA thought it could build Hubble for $300 million, but it actually cost more than five times that. With all the fixes and upgrades and decades of use, the total cost will be close to $10 billion by the time it dies, but no one is complaining about that pricetag, Weiler said.

Astronomer Livio said certain pictures remind him of abstract paintings. The colors -- added in once they reach the ground because the cameras only shoot black-and-white -- can be garish. But then so is the universe.

''This is art on a grand scale,'' astronomer Summers said.

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[vincent]

Tuning in now via WMP :)

[Hum]

Shuttle Atlantis Blasts Off on Last Hubble Mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and a crew of seven thundered away Monday on one last flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, setting off on a daring repair mission that NASA hopes will lift the celebrated observatory to new scientific heights.

Atlantis rose from its seaside pad about 2 p.m. and arced out over the Atlantic, ducking through clouds. The Hubble was directly overhead, 350 miles up.

For the first time ever, another shuttle was on a nearby launch pad, primed for a rescue mission if one is needed because of a debris strike.

After seven months of delay, the astronauts were anxious to get started on the complicated, riskier-than-usual job at Hubble. They were two weeks away from launching last fall when a critical part on the telescope failed and picture-taking ceased. NASA decided it wanted to take up a spare to replace the broken unit, and it took months to get it ready.

''At this point, all I've got left to say is, 'Let's launch Atlantis,''' commander Scott Altman said just before liftoff.

''Enjoy the ride, pal,'' replied launch director Mike Leinbach.

Atlantis should reach the orbiting telescope Wednesday.

This is NASA's fifth and final trip to Hubble, launched 19 years ago. The stakes, as well as the dangers, are higher since astronauts last visited in 2002. Space has become more littered with junk at Hubble's altitude because of satellite collisions and breakups, and NASA now knows all too well how much damage can be done at liftoff by a piece of fuel-tank foam. Columbia was brought down by such a blow.

NASA officials said a few pieces of debris came off the external fuel tank during the first few minutes of flight, but nothing appeared to hit Atlantis. Analyses will continue for the next couple of days, and virtually every inch of the ship will be surveyed to be certain. Managers dismissed a pair of minor system problems during launch, one of them a bad engine sensor that triggered alarms aboard Atlantis.

About 30,000 people jammed Kennedy Space Center, all of them gazing skyward as Atlantis blasted off. Scientists hugged one another and posed for pictures.

''We have 60 years of Hubble between us,'' said Ed Weiler, NASA's science mission chief, his arm around senior project scientist David Leckrone. ''It's bittersweet ... I know this one is the last one. On the other hand, I know that Hubble is going to be better than ever once the astronauts do their thing.''

Leckrone was also wistful: ''It's the end of the era of Hubble servicing.''

Hubble is way overdue for a tuneup.

Two spacewalking teams will replace the 19-year-old Hubble's batteries and gyroscopes, install two new cameras and take a crack at fixing two broken science instruments, something never before attempted. Those instruments, loaded with bolts and fasteners, were not designed to be tinkered with in space.

The astronauts also will remove the science data-handling unit that failed in September and had to be revived, and put in an old spare that was hustled into operation. Fresh insulating covers will be added to the outside of the telescope, and a new fine guidance sensor for pointing will be hooked up.

Five spacewalks will be needed to accomplish everything. The work is so tricky and intricate that two of the repairmen are Hubble veterans, John Grunsfeld and Michael Massimino. Grunsfeld, the chief repairman, is making an unprecedented third trip to the telescope. Altman, the commander, also has previously flown to Hubble.

''We'll give it our best,'' Altman said at liftoff.

All told, it's a $1 billion mission. The space telescope, over the decades, represents a $10 billion investment. It was launched amid considerable hoopla in 1990, but quickly found to be nearsighted, producing blurred images, because of a flawed mirror.

Corrective lenses were installed in 1993 during what Weiler, calls ''the miracle in space mission.'' The results were stunning and included the acclaimed ''pillars of creation'' image of Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region 6,500 light years away.

With all the newest pieces, NASA hopes to keep Hubble churning out breathtaking views of the universe for another five to 10 years. The new cameras should enable the observatory to peer deeper into the cosmos and collect an unprecedented amount of data.

''I personally believe the stakes for science are very high,'' Leckrone said.

Atlantis will be flying in an unusually high orbit for a space shuttle. Space is more strewn with satellite and rocket parts there, and the odds of a catastrophic strike are greater. In addition, there's always the chance the shuttle could be damaged during liftoff by a piece of fuel-tank insulating foam or other debris, which doomed Columbia in 2003.

NASA canceled this last Hubble mission in 2004, saying it was too dangerous. Atlantis would not be able to get to the international space station, which is in another orbit, and would have only 25 days of air.

The mission was reinstated two years later by the space agency's new boss, but only after shuttle flights had resumed and repair techniques had been developed. As an added precaution, another shuttle was ordered to be on standby, in case Atlantis suffered irreparable damage.

Endeavour, the rescue ship, is ready to lift off within a week to save the six men and one woman aboard Atlantis. It will remain on standby, as little as three days from launching, until Atlantis heads back home May 22.

This is the last time a shuttle flies somewhere other than the space station, and NASA doesn't expect to have shuttles on both pads again.

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[Hum]

Space Junk Raises Risks for Hubble Repair Mission

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis is now in a rough orbital neighborhood -- a place littered with thousands of pieces of space junk zipping around the Earth at nearly 20,000 mph. There are more pieces of shattered satellites and used-up rockets in this region than astronauts have ever encountered. And the crew must be there for more than a week to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. As soon as the job is complete, the shuttle will scamper to safety.

The telescope orbits about 350 miles above Earth, a far dirtier place than where shuttles normally fly. And all those tiny projectiles raise the constant threat of a potentially fatal collision.

''It's a riskier environment when we go to this altitude,'' said NASA safety chief Bryan O'Connor, a former shuttle commander. But, he added, it's a risk that NASA can handle.

After the 2003 Columbia accident, just going up to Hubble was deemed too dangerous because flying to the telescope entails climbing to a different orbit than the international space station. That means the shuttle cannot use the outpost as a safe harbor in an emergency.

NASA now puts the risk for a catastrophic collision with junk during the mission at 1 in 229 -- greater than typical flights to the space station but lower than the agency's initial estimates.

On Wednesday, the crew will grab the telescope and tuck it inside the shuttle's cargo bay, where spacewalking astronauts will make repairs and upgrades over the next week. The work begins Thursday.

The crew spent Tuesday checking the outside of the shuttle for any damage from debris during launch, finding four nicks that initially seem minor. It's a standard procedure since Columbia got hit by a piece of foam during launch and later disintegrated during re-entry.

But the biggest danger on any shuttle flight is getting hit with space junk or tiny space rocks at high speeds during orbit, not during launch. Because objects circle the Earth at high speed, something as small as one-third the width of a dime can penetrate the shuttle's cabin, causing a major -- maybe even fatal -- problem, according to NASA.

And where Atlantis is camped out has only gotten messier recently. In 2007, China destroyed one of its satellites to test a weapon, scattering debris. In February, a dead Russian satellite and an American communications satellite collided, spreading more trash in higher orbits.

So far, space junk trackers have spotted about 950 pieces from this year's crash and more than 2,500 from the 2007 explosion. And there's much more they have not seen.

Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks objects in orbit, said ''people are going to be watching (Atlantis' mission) very carefully. It's a real danger.''

While it's unlikely debris will cause a serious problem, McDowell expects Atlantis to come home ''with a couple major dings in its windshield or radiator.''

NASA's top space junk expert said it's important to put the worries into perspective.

''It's not something to lose sleep over,'' said NASA chief space debris scientist Nicholas Johnson. ''We do take it very, very seriously, but in the scheme of things, it's a small risk.''

Still, Johnson acknowledged that the higher orbit is far more dangerous than the space station's position 225 miles above Earth.

''Hubble is being pummeled regularly,'' Johnson said. ''We see evidence of thousands of impacts.''

Initially, when Johnson and other experts at the Johnson Space Center calculated the risk for losing Atlantis because of debris, it was slightly worse than 1 in 200.

That's the threshold for NASA to think twice about doing the flight. Engineers came up with some maneuvers to reduce the likelihood of getting hit, and have now decided the risk is an acceptable 1 in 229. That risk is usually about 1 in 300 during space station missions.

NASA canceled this Hubble mission in 2004, citing the risks of not being able to go to the space station in case of emergency. But the mission was reinstated after engineers devised ways to patch damage in flight, and the space agency created a plan for a quick rescue flight if needed. The shuttle Endeavour sits on the launch pad on standby to retrieve the Atlantis crew if the shuttle is too damaged to fly home.

NASA also found other ways to curb the risk of damage. As soon as Atlantis finishes fixing Hubble and places it back in orbit, the shuttle will skedaddle down to a lower, cleaner and safer orbit. The crew will also make another inspection of the shuttle before heading back to Earth.

In addition, Atlantis is flying an egg-shaped orbit, going as high as 350 miles to catch up to Hubble, but also dropping as close as 135 miles, making it less prone to space junk and easier for a rescue flight if necessary, according to NASA spokesman Rob Navias.

The Air Force is tracking more than 19,000 objects in all sorts of orbits -- most of it junk.

The dirtiest spots are at 525 miles up where the Chinese satellite was destroyed and 490 miles, where the Russian-American satellite collision occurred.

Even though the Hubble-Atlantis orbit is more than 100 miles below those zones, it's too close for complete comfort. That's because the trash spreads into nearby orbits, Johnson said.

And the higher the space junk orbits, the longer it stays aloft because there's even less drag from the ultra-thin atmosphere pulling stuff down. For example, a 4-inch object 490 miles up will stay in orbit for more than a century, Johnson said.

At Hubble's altitude, the same object would come down in about a decade; from the space station, it would be gone in a few months.

The Air Force Space Command tracks debris larger than 4 inches and gives warning to NASA and others if trash is projected to come close to astronauts. Twice in the past year, NASA has moved the space station to dodge nearby junk. But that's only the debris the Air Force can track.

Objects between one-tenth of an inch and 4 inches are dangerous enough to cause major and even fatal damage, but cannot be specifically tracked.

''The greatest risk to space missions comes from the non-trackable debris,'' Johnson said.

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[vincent]

High gain antennas Deployed, end of spacewalks, mission complete. However the High resolution portion of the camera has not been fixed, the three other channels for it has been fixed though. :)

[Hum]

I don't know, but it seems it would have been easier & safer to bring the whole Hubble telescope back home to Earth, in the shuttle, and repaired it there.

Or even built a Hubble II and replaced the original.

But kudos to the skillful astronauts. ;)

[vincent]

I don't know, but it seems it would have been easier & safer to bring the whole Hubble telescope back home to Earth, in the shuttle, and repaired it there.

More expensive perhaps

Or even built a Hubble II and replaced the original.

James Webb Space Telescope

[Hum]

The Hubble Telescope mission in pictures

More:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...n-pictures.html

[deletedxyz]

This collection of photos are the best:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/h...ing_missio.html

[sensurround]

This collection of photos are the best:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/h...ing_missio.html

Wow...those are absolutely awe inspiring. The whole mission was just amazing in every way.

[Hum]

Atlantis, Crew Land in California After Hubble Mission

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, CA (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned safely to Earth, detouring from stormy Florida to sunsplashed California to end a 13-day mission that repaired and enhanced the Hubble Space Telescope.

''Now and only now can we declare this mission a total success -- the astronauts are safely on the ground,'' NASA sciences chief Ed Weiler told a Florida press conference Sunday.

Atlantis' crew had waited since Friday for the go-ahead to land as Mission Control hoped to avoid the time and expense -- about $1.8 million -- of diverting to California's Edwards Air Force Base.

The Florida weather refused to yield and Mission Control finally directed shuttle commander Scott Altman to head to California on Sunday. The shuttle's twin sonic booms rocked the Mojave Desert as it swooped out of a dazzling morning sky.

Out on the runway after landing, Altman reflected on how long it had taken to get their mission under way -- and then to end it.

''When we got down to Florida I looked at everybody and said, 'At last,''' Altman said. ''I didn't realize it was going to be so hard to get back to the Earth in the end. So again I guess I say the same thing, at last we're back on the ground.''

It was the 53rd shuttle landing at Edwards; the last one was in November.

The crew finally set foot on the ground about two hours after touchdown, receiving greetings from ground personnel before they began the customary walkaround to inspect the exterior of their spacecraft. It was uncertain whether the crew would return to their Houston homes later Sunday or on Monday.

NASA officials said it will take about a week to prepare Atlantis for its ferry flight back to Kennedy Space Center atop a NASA Boeing 747.

During five spacewalks, the astronauts gave the 19-year-old Hubble new science instruments, pointing devices and batteries, and fixed broken instruments. The astronauts overcame stuck bolts and other difficulties.

The work will add years to the life of the telescope and its study of the universe.

Initial checkouts of the repaired Hubble were going well, Weiler said. He noted that the telescope had yet to see any starlight but he said he expected it to gather data by August.

Much was made of Atlantis' departure from Hubble as the last time it will be touched by humans, and Weiler acknowledged that was an ''emotional moment.'' But he wanted nothing to do with sad thoughts.

''Geez!'' he exclaimed. ''We just repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. We got a new telescope, four new instruments, two of them dead now alive. We've got another five, six, seven, eight years with the new telescope. These are truly the best of times not the worst of times.''

NASA eventually expects to steer Hubble into the Pacific sometime in the early 2020s using a robotic vehicle, though it's possible that might be done with a crewed vehicle, NASA's new Orion.

The astronauts brought back Hubble's old wide-field camera they pulled out, so it can be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. The replacement camera and other new instruments will enable Hubble to peer deeper into the universe.

The $1 billion repair mission almost didn't happen. It was canceled in 2004, a year after the Columbia tragedy, because of the dangers of flying into a 350-mile-high orbit that did not offer any shelter in case Atlantis suffered damage from launch debris or space junk. The public protest was intense, and NASA reinstated the flight after developing a rescue plan and shuttle repair kits.

Shuttle Endeavour was on standby for a possible rescue mission until late last week, after inspections found Atlantis' thermal shielding to be solid for re-entry. Endeavour now will be prepped for a June flight to the international space station.

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