Astronauts Release Hubble -- Watch the Video

By Nancy Atkinson - May 19, 2009 at 7:03 PM UTC | Missions

After five spacewalks on consecutive days to bring new life to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis said goodbye to the venerable observatory, releasing it back to its orbital home. Watching it float out of the cargo bay was a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the mission, and space enthusiasts, too, as even though Hubble is in great shape and now set to look out farther than ever before, this is that last time humans will visit, touch and care for the world's most famous telescope. "It's a sad moment but a great moment, because we put the Hubble in the best posture and and best performance in can be in," said Jon Morse, NASA Astrophysics division director.

Using the shuttle's robot arm, astronaut Megan McArthur gently lifted Hubble from the servicing platform in Atlantis' payload bay where it had been positioned since last week Wednesday. The video is unique in that we get to hear all the action from the flight deck during Hubble's release -- almost as good as being there!

The astronauts conducted five spacewalks -- two of them marathon sessions -- spending more than 36 hours to upgrade and outfit Hubble with new instruments, including a new Wide Field Planetary Camera that should be able to see objects formed just 500 million years after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.

The Atlantis crew completed everything NASA had planned, including the unprecedented repair of science instruments not designed to be worked on in space.

It was a mission for the ages.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com