CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 18, 2009
Hubble's Doors Close For Last Time
Atlantis Crew Finishes Internal Repairs Of Telescope, The Last Ever For Famed Observatory
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In this image from NASA TV astronauts Andrew Feustel, left, and John Grunsfeld work to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope during a spacewalk, May 18, 2009. (AP Photo/NASA TV)
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In this image from NASA TV, astronaut John Grunsfeld is reflected on the surface of the Hubble Space Telescope as he works to upgrade the orbiting observatory during a spacewalk, May 18, 2009. (AP Photo/NASA TV)
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In this image from NASA TV astronaut Andrew Feustel works to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope during a spacewalk, May 18, 2009. (AP Photo/NASA TV)
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Play CBS Video Video A Delicate Operation As astronauts continue to work on repairing the Hubble Telescope it's become clear that it is no easy task. As Daniel Sieberg reports, the spacewalk was a success but there are still concerns.
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Video Hubble Repair Continues Today's spacewalk by the Shuttle Atlantis crew will give new gyroscopes to the aging Hubble guidance system, reports Daniel Sieberg.
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Video Hubble Repair Mission Setbacks Aside from wonder and amazement while stationed 350 miles above Earth, NASA spacewalkers have also faced dramatic moments in the effort to update the Hubble Space Telescope. Daniel Sieberg reports.
NASA said the revived telescope will be better than ever thanks to the astronauts' efforts and should provide even more dazzling views of the universe for another five to 10 years.
Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel installed a refurbished fine guidance sensor in the telescope, completing the servicing mission's final major objective, reports CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood.
"All right, it's in. Nice work," Grunsfeld said as he slid fine guidance sensor No. 2 into its slow on the side of the space telescope.
"Very smooth, guys, that was beautiful," astronaut Mike Massimino said from Atlantis.
As the spacewalk was drawing to a close, Grunsfeld accidentally bumped one of the telescope's antennas and knocked off its cap with his backpack.
"Oh, I feel terrible," he groaned.
Mission Control quickly assured the astronauts the antenna was fine.
"Sorry Mr. Hubble, have a good voyage," Grunsfeld said after he covered up the tip.
"Consider it a goodbye kiss John," one of his crewmates said.
During this last visit to Hubble, the shuttle Atlantis astronauts outfitted the 19-year-old observatory with two state-of-the-art science instruments, and all new batteries and gyroscopes. The $220 million worth of new instruments should allow the telescope to peer even deeper into the cosmos, as far back as 13 billion years.
"This is a really tremendous adventure that we've been on, a very challenging mission," Grunsfeld said. "I want to wish Hubble its own set of adventures and, with the new instruments we've installed, that it may unlock further mysteries of the universe."
Mission Control congratulated the astronauts for the "electronic brain surgery."
It was the fifth and final spacewalk, lasting more than seven hours, for the Atlantis crew. It was also the fifth and final visit by astronauts, ever, to Hubble.
"This is a real great day," Mission Control told the astronauts, "a great way to finish this out."
Keen on leaving the observatory in the best possible shape, Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel gave the telescope another fresh set of batteries Monday and a new sensor for fine pointing. That left enough time to install steel foil sheets to protect against radiation and the extreme temperature changes of space.
It was messy work. Pieces of the old insulation broke off and floated harmlessly away.
"I was hoping to retrieve those for memories," said Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist who has spent more time working on the orbiting Hubble than anyone. He's visited Hubble twice before, and plans to use the telescope once he's back on Earth to study the moon.
As he applied the new insulation with a roller, a voice from space sang "rollin', rollin', rollin"' to the theme song from the TV show Rawhide.
But the spacewalks were by no means routine. The astronauts had trouble, but did remove an old camera, and had to put in a refurbished pair of gyroscopes after a brand new set refused to go in. And Sunday's spacewalk was particularly exasperating: a stuck bolt almost prevented another team of astronauts from fixing a burned-out science instrument. Brute force saved the day, but so much time was lost that the protective sheets had to be installed Monday.
The shuttle astronauts will set Hubble free Tuesday.
During the mission, the four spacewalkers, two per team, managed to fix two science instruments that had broken down years ago and were never meant to be tinkered with in orbit, and replaced a faltering science data-handling device. They also installed a docking device so a robotic craft can latch on and steer the telescope into the Pacific sometime in the early 2020s.
All told, this visit to Hubble cost more than $1 billion.
NASA hopes to crank Hubble back up by summer's end, following extensive testing of its new parts.
Already, though, scientists have gotten more than they could have hoped out of Hubble, which was launched in 1990 with a projected working lifetime of 15 years. Once its blurred vision was corrected in 1993 and NASA's reputation was restored, the telescope began churning out breathtaking images: among other things, stars in the throes of birth and death.
Back at the launch site, meanwhile, NASA maintained its vigil in case another shuttle needed to rush to the rescue. Atlantis escaped serious launch damage a week ago, but was susceptible to all the space junk in Hubble's 350-mile-high orbit. The astronauts will perform one last survey of their ship after releasing the telescope.
NASA took unprecedented steps to have Endeavour on the pad as a rescue ship, because the Atlantis astronauts have nowhere to seek shelter if they cannot return to Earth because of shuttle damage. The space station is in another, unreachable orbit.
The increased risk prompted NASA to cancel the mission five years ago in the wake of the Columbia accident. It was reinstated two years later.
With NASA's three remaining space shuttles set for retirement next year, there will no way for astronauts to return to Hubble. The new spacecraft under development will be much smaller and less of a workhorse than the shuttle, and lack a big robot arm for grabbing the telescope. Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be launched in 2014 by an unmanned rocket and placed in an orbit inaccessible to astronauts.
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Đ MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Add a Comment See all 28 Comments
- And while we're up there, we need to clean up some of that space junk.
Excellent idea. Leave space a little better after every mission, not worse. - Reply to this comment
- truthislife1 OK, you're stupid. But then, you already know that. But staying stupid is easier than thinking for yourself, isn't it? So, just keep on accepting whatever the religion hucksters tell you and don't permit any questions because you'll have no answers.
- Reply to this comment
- With the new repairs, the Hubble teslescope will remain operational for about 5 more years. Does anybody know if after that time, there is the possibility of retrieving the Hubble telescope to keep it in a museum for future generations? I believe we should save it.
Posted by Ceres6 at 8:25 PM : May 18, 2009
WHAT A LAME BRAIN IDEA...JUST GIVE NASA ANOTHER REASON FOR A USELESS FLIGHT
Posted by grabandgo
I think it's a great idea. Preserving an important part of our history and accomplishments. And while we're up there, we need to clean up some of that space junk. - Reply to this comment
- With the new repairs, the Hubble teslescope will remain operational for about 5 more years. Does anybody know if after that time, there is the possibility of retrieving the Hubble telescope to keep it in a museum for future generations? I believe we should save it.
Posted by Ceres6 at 8:25 PM : May 18, 2009
WHAT A LAME BRAIN IDEA...JUST GIVE NASA ANOTHER REASON FOR A USELESS FLIGHT - Reply to this comment
- We'll get more out of this 1 billion than the billions we wasted on Iraq and the bailout. The Hubble Telescope is one of man's finest achievements. The whole world benefits from the pictures and knowledge gained from the Hubble Telescope.
- Reply to this comment
- All the planning, technology, and engineering that went into this project just evolved. There is no Hubble creator. It all happened by chance. Now the atheist can call me stupid.
Posted by truthislife1
No, there was no creator! No one person who planned this outcome ages ago.
First there was human evolution and history. Then, one day, an American president gave his nation the idea of flying to the moon. This happened years later, driven on by other forces who made this possible. The space-faring that began with Sputnik and had a first peak with "A small step for a man" has also "evolved" a hubble.
Now, I am not an atheist. I would call myself a fairly religious person. But the god of creationists and intelligent designers is not the one I believe in!
If there was anything created in the very beginning, it was matter itself and the laws of chemistry and physics. The point of origin is called the "Big Bang." When time and space began, this was the creation. The separation of day and night of matter and void, of land and water - all that is described in the bible but was a result of the natural laws which "called" for these things to happen.
I also believe that there is a spiritual part inside us. And I think this might influence evolution. Just how it does, I don't assume man can understand. Science I do understand and i bet there is more truth to be found in science than in creationist dogmas. - Reply to this comment
- All the planning, technology, and engineering that went into this project just evolved. There is no Hubble creator. It all happened by chance. Now the atheist can call me stupid.
- Reply to this comment
- With the new repairs, the Hubble teslescope will remain operational for about 5 more years. Does anybody know if after that time, there is the possibility of retrieving the Hubble telescope to keep it in a museum for future generations? I believe we should save it.
- Reply to this comment
- I love the Hubble and the images it returns, but $1 Billion?
Posted by rtw88 at 12:57 PM : May 18,
It's cheaper than the bailouts.
At least we got something to show for it. - Reply to this comment
- I love the Hubble and the images it returns, but $1 Billion?
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Hey, compared to the trillion plus spent in Iraq, this is something that's actually cool. - Reply to this comment
- I hope we never get the chance to pollute another planet.
Posted by grabandgo at 9:16 AM : May 18, 2009
Me too. - Reply to this comment
- I wouldn't be surprised if we destroy our own civilization.
Posted by displeased
We've already begun. - Reply to this comment
- this really shouldn't be about the politics or religion. This is somthing that we as a nation have accomplished and should be proud of. once again i point out that no other nation no other private sector investers have done something this great. show your children and friends this and think about how we take all this for granted because its been done so many times before. In reality this is a feat that is the result of thousands of people. Democrate, republicans, christians and probably non christians.
- Reply to this comment
- $1 billion...a bargain. We gave AIG $180 billion that went into a black hole and $600 billion a year to the Pentagon for waste fraud and abuse. NASA does everything from the Hubble, Shuttle, Space Station, planetary probes to Mars and everything else on their $15 billion annual budget. That is less than $10 per month per tax payer. Here is my $10 NASA, keep up the good work!
- Reply to this comment
- I love the Hubble and the images it returns, but $1 Billion?
- Reply to this comment
- Fedup_w_all_pols, man did you ever hit the nail on the head! Like the song says,"clowns to the left, jokers to the right". And where's the average Joe? "Stuck in the middle", with no visible way out. It's past time for a third "viable" party that addresses the needs of Main Street America. One that hasn't been hi-jacked and held hostage by the "not so special" interest groups! Hubble should be a reminder that it's never too late to "overhaul" what needs fixing!!!
- Reply to this comment
- I have enough problems holding on to the three screws and screwdriver it takes to change a light bulb at home. Imagine holding nearly 20 screws, screwdriver and part in space in gloves and a space suit that were not exactly designed to be dextrous.
Posted by scyouth
You are right on, scy! The problem with successful space exploration, (the Mars Rovers, Hubble, etc.), is that NASA makes it look easy and simple. It is neither! And most folks don?t have a clue, (or the imagination), to understand the sheer scale of what Hubble shows us. It is my hope that Hubble will teach us how very special our planet is, and convey the size and grandeur of the Cosmos. I would much rather spend a billion dollars on this than a new weapon system. - Reply to this comment
- I can't wait to see the new photos!
- Reply to this comment
- displeased: There is no doubt that we have polluted this planet. The "space around it" I wouldn't worry much about though. The stuiff in geosynch orbit will spiral into the atmosphere and burn up eventually. Your statement hoping we "never get the chance to pollute another," is myopic and fanatical. How about we get the chance NOT to pollute another? In other words, humanity isn't the problem, it is humanity's behavior, which is subject to discipline and change.
That we are "naturally occurring on this planet" as Joe-NY-5 says has nothing to do with anything. Certainly we haven't endangered the planet in any real way with our disrespectful and wasteful ways -- only life, both human and otherwise, upon it. - Reply to this comment
- I still say Hubble telescope is a failure. Not one picture of the pearly gates yet?
Posted by mrs_trepidatious at 6:49 AM : May 18, 2009
something only in your head canīT be photographed.
Posted by lehnahund at 10:13 AM : May 18, 2009
maybe she's just been trying to use the wrong orifice all this time. - Reply to this comment
