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The Planetary Society Blog

By Emily Lakdawalla

Atlantis Launches on a Final Mission to Hubble

May. 11, 2009 | 10:49 PDT | 17:49 UTC

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Space shuttle Atlantis with its seven-member crew launched at 2:01 p.m. EDT Monday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

Atlantis' 11-day mission will include five spacewalks to refurbish Hubble with state-of-the-art science instruments designed to improve the telescope's discovery capabilities by up to 70 times while extending its lifetime through at least 2014.

Click to enlarge >

Atlantis Headed to Hubble

Under a dry, hot, cloud-washed Florida sky, space shuttle Atlantis roars off Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida with its crew of seven for a rendezvous with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The launch was at 2:01 p.m. EDT on May 11, 2009.
Credit: NASA / Fletcher Hildreth

Read updates from Ken Kremer at the launch site:

» Fueling Atlantis! T Minus 6 Hours and Counting

» Atlantis Exposed to the Heavens -- T Minus 14 Hours from Blast-off to Hubble

» "Go" at T-2 days from launch -- Hubble Science Instruments Preview

» Astronauts Fly into Cape. Countdown Clock Ticking for Mission to Save "The People's Telescope"

» NASA's Final Servicing Mission to the Hubble Space Telescope

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