Subscription Center
May 14, 2009 03:12 PM
Two spacewalkers outside space shuttle Atlantis have begun repairing and upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission. The first of five spacewalks planned for the mission began at 8:52 A.M. today (Eastern Daylight Time) and was expected to take six and a half hours.
Top on the agenda was removing Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), a workhorse with more than 15 years of service. Astronauts Drew Feustel and John Grunsfeld replaced WFPC2 with the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which will cover a broader range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
A stuck bolt initially hindered WFPC2's removal, and Feustel and Grunsfeld then encountered some resistance in stowing the decommissioned camera in the shuttle's payload bay. But around 12:30 P.M. the old camera was secured and Hubble's controllers were getting signals that WFC3 was connected and properly drawing power.
The astronauts then replaced a critical data handler on Hubble that failed in September and had been running on backup components. Grunsfeld also installed a soft capture mechanism to facilitate the telescope's future deorbiting. In the coming decades a mission will pluck Hubble from its orbit and guide it safely into the ocean.
The final remaining task, now under way, is to install kits that will permit easier opening and closing of the telescope's access doors in the mission's later spacewalks.
Photo of Atlantis crewmembers removing Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, in use since 1993, for replacement with Wide Field Camera 3: NASA TV
Tags:
spacewalks,
space shuttle program,
Hubble Servicing Mission 4
More News Blog:
Next: Sea level rise from Antarctic melt less severe than previously predicted
Previous: What the Hex Going On at Saturn's Pole?
See what we're tweeting about
David_Bressan CBC podcast on old groundwater, early hunters, canine co-evolution http://t.co/FVT1mtN0tM
notscientific Hundreds of LED-equipped umbrellas will descend on MIT this Sunday night http://t.co/Cq6NOAD5yK notscientific #SciLogs Weekly Roundup: Science Seeker Awards, The Conversation UK, Endlings, Hopeful Monsters http://t.co/oIoprNGqRK
Deadline: Jun 29 2013
Reward: $7,000 USD
The Seeker for this Challenge desires proposals for chemical methods that could rapidly degrade a dilute aqueous solution
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
Comments
Add Comment