Hubble Repair Mission Will Launch in May '09

By Nancy Atkinson - December 4, 2008 at 3:19 PM UTC | Missions
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NASA announced Thursday that space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope is targeted to launch May 12, 2009. The mission, which was previously scheduled for October of this year was delayed when a data handling unit on the telescope failed. Since then, engineers have been working to prepare a 1970's era spare unit for flight. They expect to be able to ship the spare, known as the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling System, to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in spring 2009.

STS-125 is an 11-day flight featuring five spacewalks to extend Hubble's life into the next decade by refurbishing and upgrading the telescope with state-of-the-art science instruments and swapping failed hardware. The crew consists of Scott Altman, commander; Greg Johnson, pilot; and mission specialists are veteran spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino, and first-time space fliers Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur.

The next space shuttle mission, STS-119, is scheduled for launch on Feb. 12, 2009, which will go to the International Space Station and bring up the S6 starboard truss segment and the final set of solar arrays. Another shuttle mission, STS-127 mission, is also targeted for launch in May 2009, but it's possible that flight could slip. The Hubble mission will need another shuttle on standby for a rescue mission, should STS-125 encounter any problems (since its not going to the ISS, which would serve as a safe haven if a shuttle had any damage where it could not land safely).

Beyond that, STS-128 is targeted for August 2009, and STS-129 is targeted for November 2009. As always, all target launch dates are subject to change.

Source

NASA

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