Delayed two days by stormy Florida weather, the shuttle Atlantis glided to a smooth California landing Sunday, closing out a successful mission to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope with a picture-perfect Mojave Desert touchdown.
With commander Scott Altman and pilot Gregory C. Johnson at the controls, Atlantis crossed the coast of California northwest of Los Angeles on a steep descent to Edwards Air Force Base, rattling the countryside with twin sonic booms.
Taking over manual control at an altitude of about 50,000 feet, Altman guided the shuttle through a sweeping 200-degree left-overhead turn to line up on runway 22 at the fabled Air Force test center.
As Altman flared the shuttle's descent and pulled its nose up slightly on final approach, Johnson lowered the landing gear and Atlantis settled to a smooth touchdown at 11:39:05 a.m. EDT to close out NASA's final mission to Hubble.
Space shuttle Atlantis settles to runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Houston, Atlantis, wheels stopped, Edwards, 22!" Altman radioed mission control at the Johnson Space Center as Atlantis rolled to a halt.
"Welcome home, Atlantis," astronaut Gregory H. Johnson replied from Houston. "Congratulations on a very successful mission, giving Hubble a new set of eyes that will continue to expand our knowledge of the universe."
"Thank you, Houston, it was a thrill from start to finish," Altman said. "We've had a great ride. It took a whole team across the country to pull it off. Our hats are off to you all. Thank you so much."
Mission duration was 12 days 21 hours 37 minutes and nine seconds for a flight covering 5.2 million miles and 197 complete orbits since blastoff May 11 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
"I didn't realize it was going to be so hard to get back to the Earth!" Altman joked after a brief walk-around inspection of the shuttle. "We're all thrilled to have the mission complete."
Altman, Johnson, flight engineer Megan McArthur and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, Andrew Feustel, and Michael Good planned to fly back to Houston late Sunday or early Monday for reunions with family and friends.
"Now and only now can we declare this mission a total success," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for space science. "We've now entered the second chapter of the great American comeback story.
"This mission...was canceled January 16, 2004," he said, referring to post-Columbia safety concerns. "If you'd have told me on that day I'd be sitting here five years later with a totally successful five-EVA mission, with a brand new Hubble once again that will probably operate well into the third decade of its life, I wouldn't have bet you a penny. But Hubble is the great American comeback story, chapter two."
Weiler said engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center's Space Telescope Operations Control Center are in the process of testing Hubble's new instruments and subsystems and "everything is going very smoothly, no problems so far."
Landing in California will add a week to 10 days to Atlantis' processing for its next mission in November and cost NASA about $1.8 million. It also will delay access to an electronics box that failed at launch May 11. Engineers want to make sure a short circuit affecting the aerosurface actuator in question will not affect any systems aboard the shuttle Endeavour, scheduled for launch June 13.
Atlantis rolls down the runway after a successful re-entry.
(Credit: NASA)Mike Moses, director of shuttle integration at the Kennedy Space Center, said he is confident the issue will be resolved in time for Endeavour's flight. Likewise, launch Director Mike Leinbach said Atlantis' diversion to Edwards will have no direct impact on Endeavour's processing.
Because Endeavour was on hot standby for launch on an emergency rescue mission in case the Atlantis astronauts ran into any major problems, much of its launch processing is already complete.
"One of the key things we did in the processing meetings was make sure we had a sufficient work force to go out to California, process Atlantis and get her ready to come home in addition to processing Endeavour here," he said. "When you think about it, there's not much left to do on Endeavour."
Engineers plan to move Endeavour from launch pad 39B to pad 39A next Friday. A flight readiness review is on tap June 3.
"A lot of the work on Endeavour's already done, we've got a good head start on that," Leinbach said. "Without a doubt, we have sufficient people to process them, make that 13th launch date. It's just not an issue for us."
Altman and company had hoped to close out the 126th shuttle mission Friday with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center. But low clouds and thundershowers at the Florida spaceport forced entry Flight Director Norm Knight to order a waveoff in hopes of better conditions Saturday.
The astronauts ran into more of the same Saturday. Knight considered diverting the crew to Edwards then, but ended up deciding to wave off another day in hopes of better weather Sunday. Atlantis had enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit through Monday and forecasters were predicting slightly better conditions in Florida for the crew's third attempt.
Conditions were, in fact, better but with offshore clouds and rain threatening to move into the landing zone, Knight ordered another waveoff and diverted the crew to Edwards to close out a high-stakes mission that left the Hubble Space Telescope in its best health since launch in 1990.
Over the course of five back-to-back spacewalks, the Atlantis astronauts installed two new instruments, repaired two others, replaced the observatory's six batteries and stabilizing gyroscopes, installed a new star sensor, a replacement science computer and three insulation panels.
Engineers at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center say it will take weeks to calibrate and test the new instruments and return Hubble to normal service. The first images from the refurbished telescope are expected in early September.
"Hubble has been a roller coaster ride going all the way back to the '80s," Weiler told CBS News. "It's mighty sweet to see (Atlantis' mission) happen, it's even sweeter to see it happen successfully."
The upgrades should permit Hubble to operate an additional five years, and possible 10, Weiler said.
"We've got new gyros, new instruments, old instruments that were dead and are now alive, what more could you ask for?" he said. "It's sad to know this is the end of an era. It's not the end of Hubble, it's the beginning of the new Hubble. But it's the last time we'll be servicing the Hubble with (the shuttle). And that's sad.
"But on the other hand, we've had a good ride. It was supposed to be a 10- to 15-year mission. We're in our 19th year, we may get 29 years. That's not a bad return on investment."
Atlantis' landing kicks off a busy few weeks for NASA. On Wednesday, at 6:34 a.m. EDT, the Russians plan to launch the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying three additional astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station, boosting the lab's crew to six for the first time.
Expedition 19 commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineer Michael Barratt, a NASA physician-astronaut, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata will be joined by Roman Romanenko, a second-generation cosmonaut, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk.
At the Kennedy Space Center, meanwhile, engineers plan to follow the Soyuz launch with Endeavour's takeoff on a five-spacewalk assembly mission. Because of temperature constraints related to the station's orbit, NASA will only have one week to get Endeavour off the ground or the flight will be delayed to mid July.
Faced with dismal weather in Florida on Saturday, the Atlantis astronauts were ordered to back out of landing preparations and to remain in orbit a second extra day in a row.
Their next chance to land comes Sunday.
In Washington, meanwhile, the White House announced that former shuttle commander Charles F. Bolden Jr. will be nominated as NASA's next administrator, along with Lori Garver as his deputy, ending four months of speculation.
"These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America's space program," President Obama said in a statement.
Astronaut Gregory C. Johnson rests in his sleeping bag on Atlantis this week at the end of flight day 10.
(Credit: NASA)On Sunday, the astronauts will have two opportunities to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and two at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. For the first Florida opportunity, the astronauts would fire Atlantis' twin braking rockets at 8:58 a.m. EDT, setting up a landing around 10:11 a.m.
The astronauts had hoped to land Friday at the Kennedy Space Center, but rain, lightning, and low clouds forced a one-day delay in hopes of better conditions. Kennedy was socked in again Saturday, with low clouds and rain showers near the shuttle landing strip. The forecast for Sunday is marginal, with clouds and rain expected.
The shuttle has been in orbit since May 11 to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The efforts were a success, and the Hubble was relaunched on Tuesday.
The repaired Hubble Space Telescope was relaunched Tuesday from the shuttle Atlantis after a historic fifth and final in-orbit overhaul.
Astronaut Megan McArthur, operating the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm, released the 24,500-pound observatory at 8:57 a.m. EDT as the shuttle sailed 350 miles above the west coast of Africa. The repaired telescope now boasts two new instruments, new gyros, fresh batteries, a new science computer, a refurbished star sensor, and two instruments brought back to life by spacewalking astronauts.
"The release of the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed," mission control commentator Kyle Herring said. "Hubble now back on its own for the final time with a gentle release by one, but carrying the fingerprints of hundreds of thousands."
A NASA graphic shows the Hubble prior to release from the shuttle Atlantis.
(Credit: NASA TV)As Atlantis pilot Gregory Johnson slowly backed Atlantis away, commander Scott "Scooter" Altman radioed mission control, confirming a smooth deploy.
"Houston, Hubble has been released, it's safely back on its journey of exploration as we begin steps to conclude ours," Altman said.
Hubble's protective aperture door was opened a few minutes before deploy, at 8:33 a.m. EDT, allowing starlight to once again fall on its famously flawed 94.5-inch primary mirror. But engineers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and the Space Telescope Operations Control Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will need most of the summer to test and calibrate Hubble's new and refurbished instruments and subsystems.
If all goes well, the first pictures from the upgraded telescope will be released in early September.
The release marked a bittersweet moment for NASA and for Hubble fans as the telescope receded into the dark of space, disappearing from view for the last time. With the shuttle program facing retirement after eight more space station assembly flights, no more Hubble visits are currently planned. And no one will set eyes on the telescope again until a final mission, presumably robotic, to drive it out of orbit sometime in the late 2010s or the 2020s.
"Certainly it's going to be for me, a very touching moment," astronomer-astronaut John Grunsfeld, making his third Hubble house call, said before relaunch. "When I first went to Hubble (in 1999), at the end of our three spacewalks, we deployed Hubble on Christmas Day, and I had very mixed feelings. I'd been working for a number of years on the Hubble project, had gone and done two spacewalks on that mission, and felt like I'd just barely gotten to know the Hubble before we had to send it on its way...
"I was privileged to go back again (in 2002) and I felt like I was visiting an old friend. I was convinced at the end of the last mission, as it floated away, that I would never get a chance to see the Hubble again, but I knew somebody would. And of course that got thrown into disarray with the cancellation of the servicing mission on the shuttle, and so here I am, going back to visit an old friend, to give it a new life along with a team of some Hubble repeats, other Hubble huggers, and a new team.
Faced with certain doom in the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, when a final shuttle servicing flight was canceled because of safety concerns, Hubble won a new lease on life when former administrator Mike Griffin reinstated Atlantis' mission after the development of heat shield inspection and repair techniques.
Current mission
Over the course of five back-to-back spacewalks since launch from Earth on May 11, the Atlantis astronauts equipped Hubble with a powerful new $132 million camera, a new $88 million spectrograph, six new stabilizing gyroscopes, six fresh batteries, a refurbished fine guidance sensor, and a new science data computer. The astronauts also pulled off two unprecedented repairs, bringing another camera and an imaging spectrograph back to life after failures in 2004 and 2007.
Hubble is now more scientifically powerful than at any point since launch in 1990. And with new gyros and batteries, it should remain operational for at least five more years and possibly more.
"I don't want to be provincial, but I truly believe this is a very important moment in human history, and I think it's an important moment for science," Hubble Project scientist David Leckrone said. "Just using what Hubble's already done as a starting point, it's unimaginable that we won't dramatically go further than that."
After Hubble's release Tuesday, the astronauts faced a busy day of work to inspect the shuttle's reinforced carbon nose cap, wing leading edge panels, and heat shield tiles to make sure no damage has occurred from micro-meteoroids or space debris since a similar inspection the day after launch.
The odds of a catastrophic impact from space debris are higher for the shuttle at Hubble's 350-mile-high altitude, on average about 1-in-229 compared with less than 1-in-300 for a typical flight to the International Space Station at the lab's lower 220-mile-high altitude.
With Hubble safely on its way, Altman and Johnson planned to carry out a rocket firing later in the morning to lower one side of the shuttle's orbit to around 184 statute miles, reducing the risk of impact by about 15 percent.
Because Hubble operates in a different orbit from the space station, the astronauts cannot seek "safe haven" aboard the lab complex if any major problems occur that might prevent a safe re-entry. As a result, the shuttle Endeavour is poised on pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, already prepped for an emergency rescue mission if any unrepairable problems are found.
But the kind of damage that might require a rescue mission is more likely during launch than it is from impacts with small, albeit dangerous, pieces of space debris. Tuesday's heat shield inspection is designed to spot any such damage. With post-Columbia repair tools on board, mission managers are confident any relatively minor damage could be repaired without needing a rescue flight.
Assuming no problems are found, the astronauts will enjoy a day off Wednesday before packing up Thursday for the trip home.
Along with lowering the odds of debris impacts, the orbit adjustment will also make it possible to bring Atlantis home one orbit earlier than originally planned, giving the crew three shots at a Florida landing on Friday and improving the odds of getting home ahead of potentially threatening weather. The first landing opportunity will come 10:01 a.m. EDT Friday.
Astronomer-astronaut John Grunsfeld, veteran of eight Hubble Space Telescope spacewalks and a self-described "Hubble hugger," inadvertently bumped into one of the observatory's two low-gain antennas toward the end of an otherwise smooth spacewalk Monday, knocking off a small end piece. Groaning with disbelief, Grunsfeld said, "Oh, I feel terrible."
But engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center quickly reported the antenna was still working normally. Grunsfeld and fellow spacewalker Andrew Feustel were asked to put a protective cover over the cone-shaped device for added insulation before ending the Atlantis crew's fifth and final spacewalk.
Andrew Feustel (foreground) and John Grunsfeld wrap up Hubble repairs. A low-gain antenna bumped by Grunsfeld late in the spacewalk, protected by a white cover, is visible on the base of the telescope.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Sorry, Mr. Hubble," Grunsfeld said as he headed back to Atlantis' airlock. "Have a good voyage."
"Consider it a goodbye kiss, John," someone said.
"Ah, thanks."
Dan Burbank in mission control tried to reassure Grunsfeld that he hadn't harmed the telescope.
"Just to let you know, we're feeling real good about this," Burbank said. "We think that antenna's going to be just fine. Again, in receive mode it works just fine, expectation is it'll work great in transmit mode, too. There are a lot of happy folks down here on the ground...and all around the world. We just look back and kind of marvel at the last five days and all the amazing work--electronic brain surgery and I don't know how else you could put it--that you guys accomplished on that telescope. Hubble's never had it better, it's never been more capable and it's just been a marvel to watch you guys do this."
"Thanks so much, Dan, I couldn't agree more," commander Scott "Scooter" Altman radioed from the shuttle's flight deck. "John, remember, take a moment here. This is it. The last spacewalk on Hubble and maybe our last visit to space. So enjoy this. You earned it."
"Thanks, I appreciate that. And Dan, thanks for those kind words. I hope we don't lose too many db (decibels). We really have achieved a lot out here. Thanks a lot, Scooter."
Grunsfeld and Feustel began repressurizing the shuttle Atlantis' airlock at 2:22 p.m. to close out a seven-hour two-minute spacewalk, the crew's fifth and final EVA (extravehicular activity) to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope and the twenty-third in the 19 years since the observatory's launch.
With today's installation of a second battery pack, a refurbished fine guidance sensor, and three insulation panels--one more than originally planned--the astronauts completed the last remaining objectives of NASA's final Hubble service call.
The view from John Grunsfeld's helmet cam as he takes a self portrait with Atlantis in the foregroun and the Hubble Space Telescope behind him.
(Credit: NASA TV)Before repressurizing the airlock, Grunsfeld, one of the space telescope's most ardent (and eloquent) supporters, took a moment to mark a "tour de force of tools and human ingenuity" and to thank the men and women who made Atlantis' mission possible.
"As Arthur C. Clarke says, the only way of finding the limits on the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible," he said. "And on this mission, we tried some things that many people said were impossible--fixing STIS, repairing ACS, achieving all the content that we have in this mission. But we've achieved that and we wish Hubble the very best.
"It's really a sign of the great country that we live in that we're able to do things like this on a marvelous spaceship like the space shuttle Atlantis. And I'm convinced that if we can solve problems like repairing Hubble, getting to space, doing the servicing we do traveling 17,500 miles an hour around the Earth, that we can achieve other great things, like solving our energy problems and our climate problems, all things that are in the middle of NASA's prime and core values.
"As Drew and I go into the airlock, I want to wish Hubble its own set of adventures, and with the new set of instruments we've installed, that it may unlock further mysteries of the universe."
Jon Morse, director of astrophysics at NASA headquarters, said with the completion of Monday's spacewalk, "Hubble is returned to flagship status and it now has a full arsenal of instruments and tools for astronomers to use to make the new discoveries in the next several years."
The antenna incident occurred near the end of the excursion as Grunsfeld was rigging Hubble's support platform for the telescope's deployment Tuesday.
"Oh no, I hope the antenna's OK," Grunsfeld said. "Oh, I feel terrible."
"You hit the low-gain?" asked crewmate Michael Massimino.
"I tapped the low-gain antenna with my foot," Grunsfeld said. "Ahh...."
"There are two of them," Massimino said in an effort to cheer up his crewmate.
"No, Houston, do you have a picture of this?" Grunsfeld asked.
"Atlantis, Houston, we can't see you right now," Dan Burbank called from mission control.
"OK. I'm sick," Grunsfeld said. "It kind of knocked off the end cap."
Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch said Hubble's two low-gain antennas are primarily used to beam down engineering data when a malfunction or software glitch triggers a "safe mode" response. He said both antennas were designed to operate normally even if the protective covers are in place and that no problems are anticipated.
The Atlantis astronauts plan to release the space telescope Tuesday. The shuttle is scheduled to land Friday at the Kennedy Space Center.
Held up by a stripped screw, spacewalker Michael Massimino applied brute force to an otherwise delicate operation Sunday, breaking off an offending handrail inside the Hubble Space Telescope and then carefully unscrewing more than 100 small fasteners to get inside a dead science instrument.
After pulling out a blown power supply circuit board, Massimino and crewmate Michael "Bueno" Good carefully installed a replacement card, closed the instrument up and began collecting tools and equipment while engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center sent commands to verify electrical connectivity in a quick-look "aliveness" test.
Mike Good, on the end of the shuttle Atlantis' robot arm, wraps up a successful Hubble spacewalk.
(Credit: NASA TV)Somewhere along the way, Massimino developed a rip in his left spacesuit glove, but officials said he was never in any danger.
"Atlantis, Houston, with a bit of news from the STOCC (Space Telescope Operations Control Center) if you're ready," astronaut Dan Burbank radioed around 5 p.m.
"We are definitely ready," astronomer-astronaut John Grunsfeld replied from Atlantis.
"We're all happy to report that STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph) has come back with a good aliveness test."
Amid cheers from space, Massimino laughed and said, "that sounds great. Thanks so much, Dan."
With the apparently successful repair of the imaging spectrograph, Hubble scientists expect to have access to five operational instruments for the first time in the telescope's 19-year history.
"This was an astounding victory day for science," said Jennifer Wiseman, chief of exoplanet research and stellar astrophysics at Goddard. "We are thrilled. When the STIS instrument failed back in 2004...the disappointment around the scientific community was like a terrible cloud. There were so many good scientific programs yet in the works that we had planned to do...Today is like a dream come true for the science community."
During the first of the Atlantis astronauts' five planned spacewalks, the powerful new Wide Field Camera 3 was installed, along with a replacement science data computer. On Friday, six new stabilizing gyroscopes and three fresh nickel-hydrogen batteries were bolted in place. On Saturday, the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph was installed and astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel successfully repaired the wide-field channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The ACS and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph were not designed to be repaired in orbit and as such, they represented the greatest technical challenges for the crew. Going into the mission, engineers said they had more confidence in the maturity of the STIS repair plan and warned reporters that the ACS work was much more uncertain.
As it turned out, they were partly wrong and partly right. The ACS repair went much more smoothly than anyone expected and the astronauts successfully revived the heavily used wide-field channel. But they were unable to restore the camera's high-resolution channel to operation.
During Sunday's spacewalk, Massimino and Good had to replace a blown power supply inside the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. To reach the circuit board in question, the astronauts had to remove a cover plate held on by 111 small screws.
To get the cover plate off, they first had to remove a handrail preventing the attachment of an ingenious "fastener capture plate" designed to trap the small screws and washers as they were released. The handrail was held in place by four screws. Three came out with no problem, but the head of the fourth, in the bottom right position, was stripped by Massimino's power driver.
Mike Massimino's helmet cam shows a handrail stuck in place with a stripped screw.
(Credit: NASA TV)Despite multiple attempts and a different tool bit, the screw refused to budge. Flight controllers briefly considered attempting to remove smaller screws holding the base of the handrail in place, but they ultimately hit upon the brute force solution. With the top of the handrail free, controllers suggested Massimino simply pull it away until the lower screw snapped off.
"Yeah, and Drew, before we get into it, just wanted to give you a little bit more information," Burbank called from mission control. "This was just done, just now, at Goddard on a flight equipment unit and it took 60 pounds linear (force) at the top of the handhold to fail the single bolt in the lower right position at the bottom."
"OK. Mass, you copy that?" Feustel asked. "Sixty pounds linear at the top of the handrail to pop off that bottom bolt. I think you've got that in you."
"I can try," Massimino agreed. "So what do we do? Just give us the steps."
With flight controllers laughing in the background at Massimino's eagerness, Burbank told the astronauts to stand by while engineers reviewed the plan and the techniques needed to capture any released debris. It was decided to use Kapton tape over the ends of the handrail to help trap any loose washers or debris.
"Just tell me what your hand placement plan is and what you think about managing the sharp edges after it breaks, if you want to try and rock it to fatigue it or just a straight pull?" shuttle commander Scott Altman radioed from the flight deck.
"I don't know. I think maybe rocking it a little bit and then pulling it off, you know, I can feel it now, starting to come away. I'm not going to have a big death grip on it, but do what I can to pull it off. Mike, you handy with the disposal bag? If we're lucky enough to break this thing?"
He then got a grip and prepared to pull the handrail away.
"Easy, easy, Mike, just real easy, OK?" Feustel said.
"Here we go," Massimino said, pulling the top of the handrail away. There was no television coverage at the time, but he apparently had no problems.
"Mass, I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like it all stayed intact with the tape."
"Yeah, it did, I don't think we scattered any debris," Massimino said.
Even though the sheared screw was sticking up a bit from the surface of the instrument, flight controllers and the astronauts decided it was not a sharp-edge threat and that they could press ahead with the repair.
"Awesome job," Burbank said. "We agree, we're back in with the regularly scheduled programming."
Running nearly two hours behind schedule by that point, the battery in Massimino's power tool suddenly died, prompting an "oh, for Pete's sake!" from the frustrated spacewalker.
After retrieving a fresh battery and topping of his suit's oxygen supply, he returned to Hubble and the spacewalkers got back to work.
The astronauts installed the fastener-capture plate and unscrewed 111 small screws, trapping the Torx- and allen-head fasteners and washers between the electronics box cover and capture plates. The cover-capture plate combination then was pulled away, exposing the blown power supply card to view.
Using a custom tool to avoid handling the fragile boards, Massimino and Good promptly swapped them out. The electronics box was sealed with a different cover plate, one requiring just two locking pins.
It was the second time in the shuttle Atlantis' ongoing Hubble servicing mission that astronaut muscle power was called on to save the day. During the crew's first spacewalk Thursday, Feustel had to force a stuck bolt out with a socket wrench to release an old camera, making way for installation of the new Wide Field Camera 3.
While Sunday's repair work apparently was successful, the time lost on the handrail and the dead battery left too little time to accomplish the final planned task of the day: installation of an insulation blanket.
Flight planners told the crew they could attempt two such panels during a final spacewalk Monday if time is available. But the primary goals of the final excursion are installation of three more batteries and a refurbished fine guidance sensor.
In what amounted to electronic brain surgery, a space-suited astronaut cut through shielding on a broken camera deep inside the Hubble Space Telescope on Saturday, removed a cover plate that wasn't designed to be taken off in orbit, used a custom tool to pull out four blown circuit boards, and then installed a fresh set.
Running up to an hour ahead of schedule at one point, astronomer-astronaut John Grunsfeld, a self-described "Hubble hugger" making his third visit to the telescope, then spliced in an electrical cable and connected it to a new low-voltage power supply that replaced one destroyed in 2007 by a catastrophic short circuit.
John Grunsfeld pulls a circuit board from the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
(Credit: NASA TV)The improbable repair of the Advanced Camera for Surveys went smoothly, with virtually no problems of any significance, and by 2:56 p.m., the final connections had been made, catching ground engineers by surprise.
"All connectors are mated," astronaut Michael Good radioed from Atlantis.
"Houston copies. Again, great work on that," astronaut Dan Burbank replied from mission control. "We've got to modify our aliveness test. It may take a little bit longer, didn't expect to be this far along."
"Well that's good news, thanks Houston."
Grunsfeld and crewmate Andrew Feustel then gathered their tools and equipment while engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., sent commands to verify the sophisticated instrument's three camera channels were properly connected.
Mission control commentator Pat Ryan reported at 3:22 p.m. that the Advanced Camera for Surveys had, in fact, passed its initial aliveness test. The crew was informed at 3:51 p.m.
"Atlantis, Houston, for EVA. We have a good aliveness test on ACS," Burbank radioed.
"Woo hoo!" someone exclaimed from orbit.
"Ah, that's unbelievable!" Grunsfeld said.
"Nice work, guys," Atlantis commander Scott Altman radioed. "Congratulations to you John, and Drew, for a great effort. I know it was made possible by all the folks who really put a plan together in record time to save ACS. So our thanks to them as well."
"Great words, Scooter," Grunsfeld agreed.
A more detailed functional test was planned for Saturday evening to determine the camera's overall health.
Andrew Feustel, on robot arm, and Grunsfeld, in background near telescope, wrap up a smooth Hubble repair spacewalk.
(Credit: NASA TV)Going into the unprecedented repair, only one of the advanced camera's channels, the so-called solar blind camera, was still functioning. Assuming the new circuitry performs as expected, engineers hope to revive the camera's heavily used wide-field channel and, with luck, its powerful high-resolution channel.
Coupled with the successful installation of the $88 million Cosmic Origins Spectroscope earlier Saturday, Grunsfeld and Feustel chalked up a flawless spacewalk, accomplishing two of the crew's major objectives.
"I thought today's EVA was just absolutely amazing," said Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch. "We struggled a little bit here the first day or two and we didn't really quite know how it was going to play out today. Because you just never know. ... John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel just made it look so easy out there. It was just absolutely amazing."
The six-hour 36-minute spacewalk ended at 4:11 p.m., within a few minutes of the targeted time, when Grunsfeld and Feustel began repressurizing Atlantis' airlock. Saturday's EVA, or extravehicular activity, the third of five planned by the Atlantis astronauts, pushed the crew's total to 21 hours and 52 minutes. Total Hubble EVA time in 21 spacewalks over four servicing missions stands at 151 hours and two minutes. Grunsfeld now ranks fourth on the list of most experienced spacewalkers, with 51 hours and 28 minutes of EVA time during seven Hubble spacewalks over three missions.
The day's work began with removal of the no-longer-needed COSTAR corrective optics package and installation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, a swap that took about two-and-a-half hours to complete and came off without a hitch.
After COS was installed, Feustel, mounted on the end of the shuttle Atlantis' robot arm, carried the 800-pound COSTAR to the same storage box used to carry the new spectrograph into orbit.
Feustel, anchored to the end of the shuttle's robot arm, moves the COSTAR instrument to a temporary storage platform to make way for installation of the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Just an unbelievable view," Grunsfeld radioed his crewmate. "I've got you and COSTAR, riding the arm, the Earth's limb in view, the curvature of the beautiful blue Earth and a half moon setting."
"Take a picture, John," someone said.
"We are."
A few minutes later, ground controllers reported a successful COS aliveness test, indicating the new instruments was properly plugged into Hubble's power and data management system.
"Drew and John, excellent job getting COS inside and COSTAR out and safe to come home," astronaut Michael Massimino radioed from Atlantis' flight deck.
"I just want to add a special congratulations to ... all the folks at the University of Colorado-Boulder and Ball Aerospace for getting COS up here after all these many years," Grunsfeld said.
The ACS repair work began a few minutes past 1 p.m. Working inside the cramped confines of a Hubble instrument bay, Grunsfeld used a custom grid cutter tool to remove electromagnetic shielding from the phone booth-size camera and then removed six of the Torx fasteners securing a cover plate.
"Number one is out, Bueno," Grunsfeld radioed crewmate Michael "Bueno" Good. "Yay!" A moment later, he added: "I don't think brain surgeons go 'yoo hoo' when they pull something out."
After screwing in mounting posts, he attached a clear plastic "fastener-capture plate" designed to trap the small, non-captive screws holding the cover plate in position.
"This activity is dedicated to studying the behavior of tiny screws in space," Grunsfeld joked. "All the screws are out, Bueno."
Grunsfeld then used a power screwdriver to remove the 26 remaining Torx-head fasteners and pulled the cover plate, and the trapped free-floating screws, off to expose four critical circuit boards. Using a custom tool, he extracted the cards one at a time with no problem and replaced them with a box containing four new cards.
"Those cards look new," Grunsfeld said.
"Not like the ones we've been abusing for a couple of years (in training)," Feustel joked.
The final step in the repair job was to wire in a new low-voltage power supply designed to power the high-resolution and wide-field channels of the camera.
"So now we're 60 percent of the way through this servicing mission, we've accomplished five and a half of our top six priorities, the other half being the installation of the other battery module and that won't happen until (Monday)," Burch said.
"But at this point we're feeling really good. I think you can say at this point in time, Hubble has reached a new high in terms of its capability with what we have today. We've also made huge strides in terms of restoring the health of the observatory and the next couple of days, we expect to finish up the rest of the work we have planned."
During a news briefing Friday, Hubble Project Scientist Dave Leckrone made a Joe Namath-style bet on the outcome of today's spacewalk.
"I have a prediction," he said. "We've always said EVA 3 was going to be the most difficult and the most challenging, and I predict it's going to go more smoothly than any other EVA on this mission. I just think that's some version of Murphy's Law that's going to lead us in that direction."
He was right.
Astronaut Michael Massimino, floating inside the Hubble Space Telescope, and fellow spacewalker Michael "Bueno" Good, on the end of the shuttle Atlantis' robot arm, successfully installed four state-of-the-art gyroscopes Friday. But an alignment problem prevented the astronauts from installing a box containing two final gyros.
Even so, Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch said the refurbished two-gyro rate sensor unit, or RSU, that they installed instead featured two of the three improvements incorporated in newer models and that engineers are confident it will prove as reliable as its partners.
"We've run the reliability models for all the various possible permutations and combinations of RSUs that might be installed on this mission," he said. "And I would say the difference in the projected longevity of the observatory in the out years is very small.
"We don't see this is a significant detriment at all to the observatory. This was a tremendous accomplishment for us."
Michael "Bueno" Good, seen in crewmate Michael Massimino's helmet cam, driving a bolt to secure a new gyro.
(Credit: NASA TV)Time lost trying to get the balky RSU in place cost Massimino and Good nearly two hours, forcing them to extend the spacewalk to accomplish the other primary objective of the excursion: installation of three new batteries.
Good's helmet cam view of Massimino inside the space telescope.
(Credit: NASA TV)But that work went smoothly. The gyros and batteries passed initial "aliveness" and functional tests and the 7-hour 56-minute spacewalk, the second of five planned for Atlantis' mission, was considered a complete success.
"We are really excited that we're now two for two with our EVAs," Burch said. "We accomplished everything we set out to do today. We hit some rough spots there, and I think it's a huge testament to the perseverance and the determination of both our crew as well as our flight director that we got through and accomplished everything we set out to do. It's thrown us off a little bit in terms of our time schedule, but it looks like we can accommodate that."
Installing the new gyros was the top priority of Hubble Servicing Mission No. 4. Of the six stabilizing gyros in place when Atlantis arrived, three had failed, one that was experiencing a high run time and subtle electrical problems was offline, and the other two had issues of their own.
"Mass and Bueno, my friend (King) Leonidas has a couple of words for you guys that are appropriate right now," Atlantis commander Scott Altman said with mock seriousness. "'Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time.'"
The work was the equivalent to invasive surgery for Hubble.
With Massimino anchored inside the telescope, the two spacewalkers started with RSU No. 2 in the upper right corner of an equipment bay. The process required Massimino to detach two electrical cables and for Good, operating a power drill with a long socket fitting, to unscrew the bolts holding the box in place.
Good then attached the replacement RSU to an extension tool and carefully passed it into the telescope to Massimino. Once positioned properly on guide pins, Good drove home bolts to secure the new box in place.
The process worked fine for RSU 2. But when the astronauts attempted to install a new gyro pack, serial number 1007, in the RSU 3 position in the upper left corner of the equipment bay, they ran into problems. Despite repeated attempts, they were unable to get the new unit aligned on the guide pins well enough to permit the bolts to engage.
Good said it felt like the new unit was rocking slightly on its mounting plate, indicating a problem that prevented it from sitting flush and prevented the bolts from engaging. After discussing the issue with the ground, it was decided to temporarily store the 1007 RSU and to mount the box intended for the RSU 1 position.
"I'm not too confident this is going to fit anywhere," Good said at one point, referring to 1007.
But the astronauts pressed ahead and had no problems installing the RSU 1 unit in the RSU 3 slot.
"All right, Mike, let's get it," Massimino said.
Once in position, the astronauts put the RSU in position and Good drove in the bolts to secure it.
"Three (turns), four, five, I definitely got it," Good reported.
"Excellent," Massimino replied. Cheering could be heard from the shuttle's flight deck.
"You're my hero," Massimino said. "Yeah, that bolt is in. Great job, Mike."
After a second bolt was driven home, someone wryly observed: "Double-oh seven double crossed us!"
"Ah hah!" Massimino said.
The astronauts then moved to RSU position 1 and removed the old unit. But again, they were unable to get the 1007 box to fit flush on the mounting plate. Flight controllers gave Good permission to make additional attempts, but John Grunsfeld, an astronomer-astronaut making his third visit to Hubble, said he disagreed.
"It's really your guys' call, of course, but I'm a little uncomfortable with trying to make an inertial platform out of something that may not be installed flat, even if we get one of the bolts done," he said.
"John, we copy and we agree with that plan," astronaut Dan Burbank replied from Houston.
Massimino and Good then returned to an equipment carrier and retrieved a spare RSU that was carried aloft as a backup. The spare unit was removed from Hubble during a servicing flight in 1999 and then refurbished.
As it turned out, Good had additional problems getting the spare unit in place but he eventually succeeded.
"Atlantis is pleased to report RSU 1 connectors are mated," Good said.
In a make-or-break attempt to free a stuck bolt holding an old camera in place on the Hubble Space Telescope, spacewalker Andrew Feustel, anchored to the end of the shuttle Atlantis' robot arm, used old-fashioned elbow grease to save the day, releasing the bolt and clearing the way for installation of a powerful new camera.
If the bolt had snapped--and that was a possibility--the astronauts would have been unable to remove the 16-year-old Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. In that case, the new $132 million Wide Field Camera 3 would have been returned to Earth aboard Atlantis in a major disappointment for the science community.
"I don't normally reveal my age and I'm not going to here, but I can tell you, I'm five years older now than I was when I came to work this morning," Hubble Project Scientist Dave Leckrone told reporters after the spacewalk was over. "We were concerned we might not end up with our highest priority instrument in."
But after removing a torque limiter from his wrench and applying more muscle power, Feustel was able to loosen the stuck bolt to the relief of concerned scientists, engineers, and flight controllers. He and partner John Grunsfeld then removed the old camera without incident.
Astronauts Andrew Feustel (right) and John Grunsfeld remove the Wide Field Planetary Camera 3.
(Credit: NASA TV)Dubbed "the camera that saved Hubble" by project scientists, WFPC 2 took most of the spectacular photos that have made Hubble a national icon since it was installed in the telescope during the first servicing mission in 1993.
"It's been in there for 16 years, Drew, and it didn't want to come out," Grunsfeld said.
The spacewalkers had no problems installing the new camera and a science instrument command and data-handling system computer to replace a unit that failed last September, triggering a seven-month delay for the Atlantis servicing mission.
Grunsfeld also installed a grapple fixture on the base of the space telescope that will help a future crew, or a robotic spacecraft, lock onto the observatory to drive it safely out of orbit when its useful life ends.
Finally, the astronauts installed special latches on critical access doors to make it easier to reach telescope components later in the mission. Two of four latches could not be fully engaged, but the astronauts worked around that by installing alternate devices.
Feustel's helmet cam captures his reflection on the skin of the Hubble Space Telescope.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Well, we got to Hubble and gave Hubble a hug," Grunsfeld said from the airlock when the day's work was done. "In traditional Hubble fashion, Hubble threw us a few curves. But I think it's really a testament to the whole team on board here and of course, on the ground...that we were able to overcome them."
The spacewalk began at 8:52 a.m. and ended with airlock re-pressurization at 4:12 p.m. for a duration of seven hours and 20 minutes. It was the 19th extravehicular activity (EVA) devoted to servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, the first of five planned by the Atlantis astronauts, the sixth for Grunsfeld and the first for Feustel.
The first item on the agenda was installation of the new Wide Field Camera 3. Attempting to remove the old camera, Feustel initially was unable to loosen a critical bolt holding the instrument in place. Grunsfeld returned to the airlock and retrieved a torque limiter and Feustel tried again, exerting more force. The bolt refused to budge.
"Drew, do you have any other suggestions before I check with Houston?" astronaut Mike Massimino called from inside the shuttle.
"No, I'm afraid I don't. I'm out," Feustel said.
Working through a contingency checklist, Feustel then removed the torque limiter from his wrench--a device that was limiting the applied torque to 45 inch pounds--before trying to apply more elbow grease directly to the stuck bolt.
"I just want to understand how far can we go with this and what are the implications if I over-torque and break the bolt?" Feustel asked.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Massimino quipped. He then called Houston: "We know the failure torque on this bolt is 57.1 foot pounds," Massimino radioed. "He had the MTL (multi-setting torque limiter) set at 45. What the crib sheet says is if we don't get it to break (loose) here, we're going to reconnect the ground strap and blind mate connector. So I guess Drew's just wondering how hard he should try on this A latch? If you have any words for us, we'd appreciate it."
"Atlantis, Houston, we copy that. And thanks for asking," replied Dan Burbank in mission control. "There's actually no issue with having the latch taken all the way to the failure point. The instrument should still function. So Drew can have at it, and you're correct, if we get to that point, we will need to reconnect the ground strap blind mate connector and we'll just leave it as is."
"So in other words, he can use what he needs from his strength to try to break the torque, is that what you're telling us?" Massimino asked.
"That's exactly right," Burbank said. "And as soon as he does, if he's successful, starts to have some motion in the latch, we'd like to go ahead and stop at that point."
"OK, thanks, Dan."
"OK, but I think we understand if it breaks, then Wide Field (Planetary Camera 2) stays in," Grunsfeld chimed in, verifying the make-or-break nature of the next step.
"What John said is correct," Burbank confirmed.
"OK, here we go," Feustel said, attaching the socket, sans torque limiter, to the attach bolt. Then, a moment later: "I think I got it! It turned, it definitely turned. And it's turning easily now."
"OK, Atlantis, Houston, for EVA, we copy, that's great news," Burbank said.
A few minutes later, Feustel attached a power wrench and backed the bolt out all the way to free the camera.
"Woo hoo, it's moving out," he said.
"That's great news," Massimino said. "That's awesome."
From that point, the camera replacement work went smoothly and the Wide Field Camera 3 was installed without incident. Engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., then sent commands to verify the new camera was hooked up properly and functioning as expected.
Grunsfeld and Feustel install the Wide Field Camera 3 while the old camera it replaced (foreground) sits in a cargo canister awaiting return to Earth.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Good news," Burbank called. "Aliveness test on Wide Field 3 is good."
"That's awesome news, Dan, thanks," Massimino replied. "These guys did a great job and we appreciate all the great support we got from the ground getting Wide Field in to unlock the secrets of the universe."
"More of the secrets," chimed in astronomer-astronaut Grunsfeld.
"More of the secrets of the universe," agreed Massimino.
Initial checkout of the replacement science data computer also went well.
Total Hubble EVA servicing time now stands at 136 hours and 30 minutes. Grunsfeld's total EVA time through six spacewalks stands at 44 hours and 52 minutes, putting him eighth on the list of most experienced spacewalkers.
The Hubble Space Telescope, hobbled by old age and years of post-Columbia neglect, was plucked out of open space by the crew of the shuttle Atlantis on Wednesday, setting the stage for a final five-spacewalk overhaul to give the iconic observatory an extended lease on life.
Commander Scott Altman, who flew an F-14 jet in the movie "Top Gun," deftly maneuvered the orbiter to within a few dozen feet of the 24,500-pound telescope as the two spacecraft sailed through space in lockstep, covering 84 football fields per second high above western Australia.
Astronaut Megan McArthur, operating the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm with easy grace, then grappled the huge observatory at 1:14 p.m. to wrap up a two-day rendezvous.
The Hubble Space Telescope moments after capture by the crew of shuttle Atlantis.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Houston, Atlantis, Hubble has arrived on board," Altman exclaimed.
"Atlantis, Houston, we copy. Nice job, Megan, nice job on the prox ops flying as well," astronaut Dan Burbank replied from mission control. "It's great to be back with the telescope."
"Thank you, Houston, appreciate the support getting us here," Altman said.
Added lead spacewalker and self-described "Hubble hugger" John Grunsfeld: "We're very excited up here, I can tell you."
The only problems during Wednesday's approach was a glitch with a communications unit aboard Atlantis designed to relay commands to the telescope from Hubble engineers on the ground. As it turned out, the equipment was working properly, but the engineers were attempting to send commands at a higher-than-allowed data rate. The commands were sent through a NASA satellite instead and the astronauts easily compensated for a minor delay that resulted in a slight misalignment between the two spacecraft.
After confirming final commands had, in fact, reached the telescope, McArthur was cleared to mount Hubble on a rotating service platform at the back of Atlantis' payload bay. Once locked in place, the astronauts carried out a detailed photo survey to document the condition of Hubble's protective insulation and to look for signs of impact damage from micrometeoroids and space debris.
An electrical cable in the servicing platform was remotely extended and plugged into a receptacle at the base of the telescope to provide shuttle power for the duration of the overhaul.
"We'd like to congratulate you on a great job today with the rendezvous, the grapple and the berth," Burbank radioed at the end of his shift. "It's wonderful to see Hubble safely aboard Atlantis and we're all looking forward very much to a couple of great days of EVA."
"Hey Dan, to you, Tony (Ceccacci, lead flight director), the entire team...we just want to say thanks for all the work that got us to this point," Altman said. "We realize we're just setting the stage for the main activity, doing the repairs on Hubble, but you've got to get past step one to get any further along and having Hubble safely berthed in the bay feels great to us. Thanks to you all, it was a team effort, and we appreciate the help."
Seen for the first time since a pre-Columbia service call in early 2002, the space telescope appeared to be in remarkably good condition given its 19 years in the harsh environment of space, with no immediately obvious problems with its insulation panels or other exterior components.
"Just looking out the window here, and it's an unbelievably beautiful sight, amazingly, the exterior of Hubble, an old man of 19 years in space, still looks in fantastic shape," Grunsfeld radioed.
The Hubble Space Telescope is maneuvered toward a service platform at the rear of shuttle Atlantis' payload bay.
(Credit: NASA TV)"As we approached Hubble, the location of the grapple, we're only looking at one side of it and that's the side that never sees the sun," he said. "That's the side that has the least amount of degradation and the side we would expect to be in the best condition. When we go around to the other side, we can logically expect substantially more deterioration."
The first of five back-to-back spacewalks is on tap Thursday, starting around 8:16 a.m. Over the course of the mission, the astronauts plan to install two new science instruments, repair two others, swap out a science data computer and install new batteries, gyroscopes, a refurbished fine guidance sensor and new insulation panels.
The goal is to extend Hubble's life by at least five years.
"We're very much looking forward to getting on with these EVA activities," said Jon Morse, director of astrophysics at NASA headquarters. "I wanted to note that when we first had the image of HST on the big screen in our control room, there were audible gasps of elation that this was truly a wonderful sight seven years or so after the last servicing mission, to see the space telescope...After 19 years, it still looks to be in fantastic shape. So we're really looking forward to tomorrow and getting on with the instrument upgrades and repairs."
Engineers at the Johnson Space Center are evaluating a small area of tile damage on the forward part of the shuttle Atlantis' right wing where it joins the ship's fuselage. The nicked tiles, apparently damaged during launch by a debris impact around 106 seconds after liftoff, were spotted Tuesday during a lengthy heat shield inspection by the Atlantis astronauts.
LeRoy Cain, chairman of NASA's Mission Management Team, told reporters late Tuesday that engineers are not overly concerned about the damage and probably will not require an additional, "focused" inspection to collect more data. But engineers will continue their assessment overnight to make sure the damage poses no risk to the shuttle.
Damaged heat shield tiles on shuttle Atlantis' right wing.
(Credit: NASA TV)"This area is about 21 inches long," Cain said, describing a photograph of the damage site. "It looks like something just kind of chattered down along that edge there on the starboard chine area. The preliminary indications are that the damage is not very deep here, it's not very significant. This is not something we're very concerned about. But we want the team to do our normal assessment and evaluation of it, and they'll do that overnight tonight."
But Cain said the preliminary assessment "certainly doesn't look like it's going to be an issue for us. And matter of fact, the teams are saying we probably will not even need a focused inspection in this area. But...we want to take the time and review the data overnight."
If a focused inspection is required, it would be carried out Friday, before the crew's second Hubble Space Telescope servicing spacewalk gets under way. Lead flight director Tony Ceccacci said a focused inspection, if ordered, would have no major impact on the planned EVA.
Debris is seen in launch video an instant before impact on the shuttle Atlantis' right wing.
(Credit: NASA TV via Spaceflightnow.com)
Debris impact on the shuttle Atlantis' right wing.
(Credit: NASA TV via Spaceflightnow.com)At the Kennedy Space Center, meanwhile, engineers are evaluating damage to the flame deflector at launch pad 39A where Atlantis began it's voyage Monday. The flame deflector, positioned directly below the exhaust ports of the shuttle's mobile launch platform, suffered significant erosion of the heat-resistant Fondu Fyre coating used to divert 5,000-degree flame from the shuttle's solid-fuel boosters.
Engineers found a fair amount of debris littering the pad surface and the immediate area around the "flame trench" during a post-launch inspection, but "this was all debris that was moving around in the area that was below the pad area where the vehicle sits on top," Cain said. "Atlantis was not in danger of being struck by this debris."
The shuttle Endeavour currently is mounted on nearby launch pad 39B where it is on stand-by duty for a possible emergency rescue mission in case the Atlantis astronauts encounter any major problems in orbit that might prevent a safe re-entry. Engineers plan to move Endeavour to pad 39A for launch June 13 on a space station assembly mission after it is released from rescue standby.
Cain said the damage to the flame deflector at pad 39A does not appear to be serious and engineers are confident it can be repaired with no impact on Endeavour's June launch date.
Damage to pad 39A was not the only issue engineers at Kennedy had to deal with. A few hours after pad 39A was blasted by Atlantis' exhaust, two lightning strikes were recorded at pad 39B.
"The weather apparently got a little stirred up last night and there was some lightning and some storms in the area in the vicinity of the cape and the pads," Cain said. "And we did record two lightning strikes at pad B."
Engineers are carrying out an assessment to make sure the strikes caused no problems for the shuttle's complex electrical system.
