Emily Lakdawalla • May 11, 2009
Atlantis Launches on a Final Mission to Hubble
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.
» 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