Astronauts begin repairing Hubble telescope in space

The crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis has begun repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope. Before work could begin, astronaut Megan McArthur used the shuttle's robot arm to seize the school bus-sized telescope as the two spacecraft sailed 350 miles above Australia. With the telescope safely in hand, the astronauts and flight controllers turned their attention to the upcoming five days of repair work - Nasa has never attempted anything like this before at Hubble. The telescope's unusually high orbit is strewn with smashed satellite pieces and other debris that could pierce the shuttle or suit of a space-walking astronaut. Going into the mission, Hubble scientists and managers warned that Hubble might look a little ragged as it has not had a tune-up since 2002. On Tuesday, the astronauts were told the scratch marks on Atlantis' thermal tiles were not considered serious, and no further inspections were needed. But Nasa is continuing to prepare another shuttle in case a piece of space junk hits the shuttle during the mission. Following the berthing operation, Lead Flight Director Tony Ceccacci said he was completely satisfied with the day's activities despite some communications problems between Hubble, shuttle Atlantis, and ground communicators. Two teams of space-walking astronauts - two men per team - will now take turns venturing outside to replace the 19-year-old Hubble's batteries and gyroscopes, and an old camera and pointing mechanism. They also will install fresh thermal covers on the telescope and a new science data-control unit - the original failed last September and, although revived, delayed the shuttle flight by seven months. The space repairmen also will go into the guts of two broken science instruments and attempt to fix the fried electronics. This is the fifth and final flight to Hubble, costing Nasa just over $1 billion. The space agency hopes to get another five to ten years out of Hubble with all the planned upgrades, which should leave the observatory more powerful than ever.

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ITN | May 14, 2009

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