The mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope is a success. According to the Associated Press, astronauts about the space shuttle Atlantis completed five days of repairs and upgrades to the telescope Tuesday and released the Hubble back into orbit.
The mission was NASA’s last chance to perform a “service call” on the Hubble before it completes its mission.
“Hubble has been released,” reported commander Scott Altman. “It’s safely back on its journey of exploration as we begin steps to conclude ours. Looking back on this mission, it’s been an incredible journey for us as well.”
Mission Control radioed congratulations: “It’s wonderful to see Hubble, the most famous scientific instrument of all time, newly upgraded and ready for action thanks to you.”
During five consecutive days of spacewalks loaded with drama, Atlantis’ crew labored tirelessly on the 19-year-old observatory. Four men working in teams of two gave the telescope two new high-powered science instruments and a suite of other up-to-date equipment, and fixed two broken instruments, something never before attempted in orbit.
The astronauts persevered, despite stuck bolts, ill-fitting gyroscopes and flyaway shreds of insulation. Two of them were ready to jump into spacewalking action one last time if the telescope’s aperture door had not opened Tuesday morning or some other last-minute problem cropped up. None did.
NASA said the astronauts’ extraordinary effort not only fixed Hubble, but should give the iconic telescope another five to 10 years and allow it to reveal even more mysteries of the cosmos.
The Hubble team hopes to resume celestial observations by the end of summer, following an intensive series of tests.
As for the space telescope’s future, there will be no more visits. Sometime after 2020, NASA will send a robotic craft to steer it back into the atmosphere and a watery grave. The spacewalkers installed a docking ring for just that purpose.
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