Hubble packing shiny new camera
The Hubble Space Telescope now boasts a shiny new Wide Field Camera 3 following a seven-hour, 20-minute spacewalk by STS-125 mission specialists John Grunsfeld (in pic, below) and Drew Feustel. Andrew Feustel during the first Hubble spacewalk During the excursion, which ended at 20:12 GMT, the pair also replaced the bothersome …
Amazing!
This is an amazing and complicated repair mission. The astronauts have to climb *inside* the telescope (with its sharp edges) to perform the repairs, across 5 spacewalks, on equipment which was never designed to be repaired in space, and without being able to reach the ISS as a safe harbour should anything go wrong.
Even if you're indifferent and/or have never watched a shuttle mission before, this is the one to follow (on NASA TV.) That we can accomplish the intricate goals of this mission is testament to the human spirit.
Views are magnificent
"The Hubble Space Telescope now boasts a shiny new Wide Field Camera 3"
I'm betting it won't have a great view at the moment though. Either the cargo bay of Atlantis, a field on earth, or a close up of an astronaut's ass :-)
YEAH!
John Grunsfeld, Drew Feustel, Mike Good and Mike Massimino - you the men. Long live Hubble.
Is it wearing a space suit....?
The ass I mean...? Otherwise it would asphyxiate in the near vacuum.
Mine's the one with a UK dictionary in the pocket.....
Sorry Lester, me again.
Thats Drew in the picture, John never got on the RMS.
"They'll also start work replacing Hubble's batteries."
Good thing Apple didn't build it, then... they'd have to send it back to a service center instead of replacing it themselves.
...mine's the one with the Sansa Clip in the pocket.
And barely too...
There was a major issue with a stuck bolt, but since they figured it didn't matter if they broke the bolt or it stayed stuck, they gave it the full oomph and it finally came free.
They also didn't get the new door latches installed, but all in all, they did a helluvfa job. Me 'at's off to 'em!
@Views are magnificent: the aperture door is closed, no close-up astro pr0n for j00!
@YEAH!
Seconded :O)
And I for one welcome our new and improved shiney orbiting overlords....
At last!
I remember the first servicing mission and the difficulties they had simply opening & closing the doors. It seems they've got the hang of it now, just as they are about the abandon the thing.
re: Amazing
Sounds about as complicated/dangerous as what some construction workers and oil platform divers do on a daily basis with no fanfare and fame.
Try fixing something underwater (weightless, just like space) is pretty difficult. Get fouled underwater and you're dead.
