STS-125 date set
(6 March 2002) — Astronaut John M. Grunsfeld, payload commander, waves at a crewmate inside Space Shuttle Columbia’s crew cabin during a brief break in work on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the cargo bay of the shuttle during the STS-109 mission’s third space walk.
Courtesy of the New York Times I just learned that STS-125, the final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, has been scheduled for a Sept. 11, 2008 launch. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin had given the green light for Servicing Mission 4 this past October (back when I’d taken a break from blogging, but trust me when I say I was celebrating the news).
STS-125 will outfit Hubble with fresh batteries, gyros and thermal blankets, install two new instruments (Wide Field Camera 3, Cosmic Origins Spectrograph), replace a guidance sensor, and attempt to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (which suffered an electronic failure in 2004). Astronaut John Grunsfeld (pictured above) will be participating in his third Hubble servicing mission; this lengthy to-do list is certainly in good hands.
As of right now, it appears this mission will also be the final flight for the Space Shuttle Atlantis — talk about retiring on a positive note. I guarantee I’ll be glued to NASA TV for a week and a half, watching intently.
2 Responses to “STS-125 date set”
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working in the space like this one is just a very miraculous work, they are the true devoted people working there, their work is appreciable all the time, walking or working in the space is just not a joke.
and that astronomer also giving a smile behind the mask.
sunil
I can’t think of a job with a better view.