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Watch Mission Live
About Photo: (Taken May 14, 2009) Perched on the end of the Canadian-built remote manipulator system, astronaut Andrew Feustel, mission specialist, performs work on the Hubble Space Telescope as the first of five STS-125 spacewalks kicks off a week’s work on the orbiting observatory. Feustel, teamed with astronaut John Grunsfeld (out of frame), will join the veteran spacewalker on two of the remaining four sessions of extravehicular activity later in the mission.
Photo Credit: NASA
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Friday evening update:
Astronauts Second Spacewalk Completed
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The second of five scheduled Spacewalks concluded at 4:45pm EDT today. It lasted for 7 hours, 56-minutes, making it the 8th longest spacewalk in history.
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During today’s Spacewalk, Mike Massimino and Mike Good removed and replaced three rate sensor units. One of the new upgraded units could not be seated into place. As a result, the spacewalkers installed a refurbished spare unit. The spacewalkers also replaced a new battery module from the telescope's Bay 2.
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Mission Specialists Michael Good and Mike Massimino spun up the Hubble Space Telescope with six new gyroscopes and a new battery during a 7-hour, 56-minute spacewalk. Friday’s was the eighth longest spacewalk in history.
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The second of the mission’s five spacewalks began at 7:49 a.m. CDT, and by 3:15 p.m. the team had accomplished all of the planned objectives. Those included replacement of all three rate sensing units (RSUs). Each rate sensing unit contains two gyroscopes, which help the telescope point itself. The spacewalkers couldn’t get one of the three units into its slot, but they were able to install a spare that was carried on board because of the tight tolerances involved.
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Good and Massimino removed one of the original battery modules from Bay 2 of the telescope and replaced it with a new unit. The module in Bay 3 is scheduled to be replaced by Mission Specialists John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel on Monday. The batteries provide power to the telescope when it passes into the Earth’s shadow and its solar arrays are not exposed to the sun.
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Ground controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland confirmed that all six gyroscopes and the new battery passed preliminary tests.
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Commander Scott Altman and Mission Specialist Megan McArthur completed a robotic arm inspection of 40 shuttle heat shield tiles that weren’t in full view during Tuesday’s inspection. Based on imagery analysis, mission managers cleared all of Atlantis’ thermal protection systems until a final pre-landing inspection on Tuesday.
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The last item on today’s schedule for the crew is the review of the procedures for tomorrow’s spacewalk, the third of the mission. That spacewalk will see Grunsfeld and Feustel install a new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
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Because Friday's spacewalk was longer than planned, the crew will go to bed an hour later at 8:31 p.m. and awaken an hour later at 4:31 a.m. Saturday.
Info from the NASA.gov website
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Post Update:
Saturday evening
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Third Hubble Repair Spacewalk Completed
STS-125 mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel finished the mission’s third spacewalk Saturday at 4:11 p.m. EDT. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours, 36 minutes.
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The spacewalkers focused on the installation of the telescope’s new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and completed the Advanced Camera for Surveys repair work. Engineers from the Space Telescope Operations Control Center at Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland powered up both components and reported good aliveness tests. More tests will be conducted during the astronauts sleep period.
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On Sunday starting at 9:16 a.m., astronauts Mike Good and Mike Massimino will repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and install the New Outer Blanket Layer during the fourth STS-125 spacewalk.
Again... Fourth Spacewalk starts Sunday morning at 9:16am EDT
Info from the NASA.gov website
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Post Update:
Sunday morning
May 17, 2009
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STS-125 Crew Begins Fourth Spacewalk
8:50:30am CDT
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Image above: Mission specialists
Mike Massimino and Mike Good work outside space shuttle Atlantis during the fourth spacewalk of STS-125.
Photo Credit: NASA TV
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Astronauts Mike Massimino and Michael Good began the fourth of five STS-125 spacewalks at 8:45am CDT. It is scheduled to last 6 hours, 30 minutes.
Massimino is wearing a spacesuit marked with broken horizontal stripes. Good is wearing a spacesuit with barber pole red stripes.
The spacewalk will start with some setup tasks and the opening of the telescope's bay doors.
Massimino and Good will spend the bulk of their spacewalk time repairing Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph - a task that has been compared to brain surgery.
To access the electronics card the spacewalkers intend to replace, they’ll need to remove a cover plate. However, there are several obstacles to doing so. First, Massimino will need to remove a clamp from the upper left corner of the cover plate. Then he’ll need to remove a handrail.
Both of these tasks require special tools to catch the fasteners currently holding those pieces in place. The clamp removal tool fits over the fasteners of the clamp and catches them as they’re released; the handrail removal tool does the same over the fasteners of the handrail.
Info from the NASA.gov website
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NOTE: Today’s Spacewalk (as all the others have and will be,) is being broadcast LIVE on NASA TV Right NOW! Be sure to click it out!!!
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Post Update:
Monday afternoon
May 18, 2009
Saluting His Crewmates
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About Photo: (May 15, 2009) While standing on the end of Atlantis' remote manipulator system arm, STS-125 Mission Specialist Michael Good pays tribute to his commander and all his crewmates with a military-style salute.
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Good and Mike Massimino (background right) are working on the Hubble Space Telescope locked down in the orbiter's cargo bay. .After their May 15 tasks were completed, three more sessions of extravehicular activity, on back to back to back days, await the seven-person crew.
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Final Spacewalk of STS-125 Mission Complete
2:27pm CDT
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The fifth and final STS-125 spacewalk concluded today at 2:22pm CDT. Today’s spacewalk lasted for 7 hours, 2 minutes. Mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel began today’s spacewalk at 7:20am CDT.
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During today’s spacewalk… Grunsfeld and Feustel finished the mission’s battery replacement work. They worked in the telescope’s Bay 3 to replace the second of two battery modules. Each module weighs 460 pounds and contains three batteries, providing electrical power to support Hubble operations during the night portion of its orbit. The first battery module was installed during the second spacewalk.
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They also replaced one of the telescope’s fine guidance sensors. The sensors are used to provide pointing information and also serve as a scientific instrument for determining relative position and motion of stars.
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After those two tasks were accomplished, Feustel and Grunsfeld turned their attention to the New Outer Blanket Layer (NOBL) on the outside of the telescope’s Bay 5, Bay 8 and Bay 7, which normally face in the direction of Hubble’s orbital travel. These blankets were expected to deteriorate more in the space environment. The NOBL on Bay 8 was to be installed during the fourth spacewalk, but the crew was unable to accomplish it due to work on a stripped bolt.
Info from the NASA.gov website
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Post Update:
BYE-BYE HUBBLE!
Tuesday afternoon
May 19, 2009
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About photo: Gregory C. Johnson, STS-125 pilot, occupies the pilot's station on the flight deck of the space shuttle Atlantis.Photo Credit: NASA
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Separation Burn Complete
8:37am CDT
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Space shuttle Atlantis fired its thrusters at 8:28am CDT to increase its distance from the Hubble Space Telescope. Now that the shuttle is at a safe distance from Hubble, the crew will stow the equipment system that provided interfaces between the telescope and Atlantis. The system also served as the maintenance platform that held Hubble in place while providing a means for rotation for correct positioning during deployment and in-orbit servicing.
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Late inspection of Atlantis' heat shield is scheduled to begin at around 11:51am CDT.
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STS-125 Crew Releases Hubble
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The STS-125 crew bid a final farewell to the Hubble Space Telescope today. With servicing completed, the telescope was released from the shuttle’s robotic arm at 7:57am CDT.
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Mission Specialist Megan McArthur released the grapple fixture as Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Gregory C. Johnson guided Atlantis carefully away. Subtle thruster firings will place the shuttle a safe distance from Hubble.
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Later in the day, attention will turn to surveys of Atlantis’ thermal protection system, including its wing leading edge panels, nose cap and underside tiles. Imagery experts will evaluate the data to determine the health of the thermal protection system.
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- STS-125 Crew Releases Hubble -
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This video posted on YouTube by NASAtelevision
STS-125: The Final Visit.
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* Last Mission to Hubble Telescope
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SAFE LANDING to the crew of ATLANTIS STS-125...
AubreyJ.........
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-- NOTE: This post now closed - I’ll start a new post in a few days before Landing --
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