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The Planetary Society BlogBy Emily LakdawallaAtlantis Astronauts Rocket into Space and Grab HubbleMay. 14, 2009 | 12:24 PDT | 19:24 UTC
Planetary Society volunteer Ken Kremer is reporting for us from the Kennedy Space Center, where he witnessed the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis to the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11. Kremer is a research scientist and freelance journalist who spends his spare time giving public outreach presentations on behalf of The Planetary Society as a volunteer and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Solar System Ambassador. He also enjoys creating Mars mosaics. Thanks Ken!  by Ken Kremer
Space Shuttle Atlantis and her crew of seven astronauts roared off Launch Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center right on time at 2:01:56 on May 11, 2009 on a bold and high stakes mission (STS-125) to restore, refurbish, renew and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope to the absolute apex of its capabilities and extend the working lifetime to at least 2014. The ground rumbled beneath my feet at KSC and the sky crackled repeatedly with roaring thunder that intensified as the shuttle rose skyward and accelerated atop a spreading plume of smoke and ash emanating from the brilliantly bright and magnificently hot fire and intense flashes from the rocket exhaust of the three powerful shuttle main rocket engines and twin solid rocket boosters.
Atlantis streaked to space on a partly cloudy day, rolled about and quickly arced eastwards over the Atlantic Ocean towards Africa. She soon disappeared from view into the cloud layer. At liftoff, the Hubble Space Telescope was flying directly over the Kennedy Space Center at 5 miles per second and at an orbital altitude of 350 miles.
No other rocket launches compare in intensity to the sound and fury of a shuttle launch with 7 million pounds of liftoff thrust. Nor in drama, with the lives of seven precious human beings whose fate is utterly dependent on the outcome. These brave souls have put their lives on the line in the cause of the advancement of Science to benefit all humanity. For the first time in Shuttle program history a second shuttle, Endeavour, sat poised at the adjoining shuttle launch Pad 39 B ready to ‘launch on need' within days on a rescue mission in the unlikely event of catastrophic damage to Atlantis that would prevent her safe return. STS-125 is the only remaining shuttle mission which will not dock at the International Space Station (ISS). Since Hubble and the ISS are in different orbits, the crew cannot seek safe haven aboard the ISS. Hence the plan to have a rescue shuttle ready to go. Launch teams are now preparing Endeavor for the three day countdown as a stand-by option. Mission managers declared Atlantis' thermal protection tiles safe for reentry, but continue to examine the imagery from a thorough inspection of the reinforced carbon carbon on the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edges. Prior to liftoff, I witnessed the one by one walkout from crew quarters of the ebullient astronauts at 10:16 AM. They stopped as a group and waved to the cheering crowd who wished them god speed, success and a safe return. After perhaps 20 seconds they boarded the astrovan and departed for the drive to the launch pad where they were strapped into their seats for the climatic rise to space.
Shortly before liftoff, Shuttle Commander Scott Altman thanked the teams that helped make the launch possible. "At last our launch has come along," said Altman. "...Getting to this point has been challenging, but the whole team, everyone, has pulled together to take us into space." Altman is joined on STS-125 by Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission Specialists Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel and Michael Good. McArthur serves as the flight engineer and lead for robotic arm operations while the remaining mission specialists pair up for the hands-on spacewalk work. Altman, Grunsfeld and Massimino are space shuttle and Hubble mission veterans and flew together on the last servicing mission in 2002 onboard Space Shuttle Columbia. Johnson, Feustel and Good are first-time space fliers. The STS-125 mission is the second of five planned in 2009. Hubble was delivered to space on April 24, 1990, on the STS-31 mission and recently celebrated its 19th year of highly productive science gathering operations. STS-125 is the fifth and final servicing flight to the telescope, designated as SM-4. "Hubble has a long history of providing outstanding science and beautiful pictures," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "If the servicing mission is successful, it will give us a telescope that will continue to astound both scientists and the public for many years to come."
Over the years, Hubble has taken on an iconic status in popular culture and is often referred to as "The People's Telescope". Shuttle Commander Scott Altman carefully and skillfully maneuvered Atlantis to within 50 feet of the 24,500 pound Hubble Space Telescope on Wednesday, May 13 while orbiting 340 miles high above western Australia. Astronaut Megan McArthur then deftly plucked the aging telescope from open space at 1:14 PM EDT with the shuttle's robotic arm and berthed the captured Hubble securely inside the cavernous payload bay onto a Flight Support maintenance system. The platform can rotate 360 degrees and tilt to provide better access for spacewalkers, and provides power for thermal control while the telescope is being serviced.
This is the first up-close view of Hubble since the 2002 servicing mission. The astronauts conducted a thorough visual survey to document Hubble's protective insulation and check for signs of impact damage from micrometeoroids and space debris. The astronauts said that Hubble appeared to be in remarkably fine shape despite spending 19 years in the harsh space environment. "Just looking out the window here, and it's an unbelievably beautiful sight, amazingly, the exterior of Hubble, an old man of 19 years in space, still looks in fantastic shape," lead spacewalker John Grunsfeld reported. The first of 5 jam packed back-to-back spacewalks giving Hubble an extreme makeover and new lease on life begin on Thursday morning May 14. During the first EVA, spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel will remove the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and install the Wide Field Camera 3. The next task is to replace the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit (SCI&DH) with a ground spare. The SCI&DH allows Hubble's science instruments to send and receive data, and it experienced a failure in September of last year. Commanding was switched over to the unit's back-up channel, but the new SCI&DH will restore full redundancy. Among Hubble's greatest discoveries is the age of the universe (13.7 billion years); the finding that virtually all major galaxies have black holes at their center; the discovery that the process of planetary formation is relatively common; the first ever organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star; and evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating -- caused by an unknown force that makes up approximately 72 percent of the matter-energy content of the universe.
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