Shuttle Atlantis Blasts Off For Hubble
The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off Monday for one last flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, an extraordinarily ambitious repair mission that NASA hopes will lift the celebrated observatory to new scientific heights.
Near-perfect weather was forecast for the afternoon liftoff. NASA also was keeping an eye on the weather at the emergency landing strip in Spain, where there was a slight chance of rain.
The shuttle lifted off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center at 2:01 p.m. ET.
The six men and one woman aboard Atlantis shouted, waved and raised their fists as they headed out to the pad earlier today, eager to get going after waiting seven months to fly. Their flight was delayed last fall, two weeks before the scheduled launch, after the orbiting telescope broke down.
"Let's go!" commander Scott Altman said. "Yeah!"
During the first few minutes of flight, Mission Control repeatedly advised Altman and his co-pilot to disregard a bad sensor and assured them that everything was fine. About 30,000 people jammed Kennedy Space Center for the launch.
Hubble scientists and managers were excited, and some were a little sad as Atlantis rocketed into orbit. "I'm feeling wistful because this is the final mission," said senior project scientist David Leckrone. "It's the end of the era of Hubble servicing."
The 11-day mission comes with a higher risk than usual: Atlantis will be flying in an unusually high orbit for a space shuttle - 350 miles up - to reach Hubble. Space is more littered 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. As an added precaution, another shuttle was ordered to be on standby, in case Atlantis suffered irreparable damage.
Endeavour, the rescue ship, is at NASA's other launch pad, ready to lift off within a week to save Atlantis' crew.
The results were stunning and included the acclaimed "pillars of creation" image of Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region 6,500 light years away.
On this fifth and final repair mission, Atlantis' crew will replace 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.
They also will remove the command and data-handling unit that failed in September and had to be revived, and put in a 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 the telescope.
"We'll give it our best," Altman said.
Atlantis should reach the orbiting telescope on Wednesday.
NASA canceled this last Hubble mission in 2004, saying it was too dangerous. It 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.
All told, it's a $1 billion mission. 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," senior project scientist David Leckrone said on the eve of the launch. "It's a very complex, very ambitious mission, and it makes the difference between an observatory that's kind of limping along scientifically and an observatory that's the best ever."
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