NASA Astronauts Detail Final Hubble Servicing Mission

Seven NASA astronauts have a challengingmission ahead to pay onelast service call to the Hubble Space Telescope inless than two years' time.

On Tuesday,NASA chiefMichael Griffin gave shuttle commander Scott Altman and his six crewmates the green light fora May 2008 mission to repair and upgrade the 16-year-old orbital telescope.

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Known asServicing Mission-4 (SM-4), the 12-day Hubble flight is currently designated asSTS-125 and slated to launch aboard NASA's Discovery orbiter sometime during asix-month window that opens in May 2008, space agency officials said Tuesday.

"It's notlike we're planning from scratch," Chuck Shaw, NASA's mission director for theHubble servicing flight, said in a telephone interview. "We're actually pickingup where the earlier SM-4 planning left off."

Thespaceflight will be NASA's fifth andfinal mission to maintain Hubble before the agency's three-orbiter fleet isretired in September 2010. About 14other shuttle flights are dedicated to the completion of the International SpaceStation (ISS).

"We'rescoping out an actual date in May 2008," said NASA's Jennifer Wiseman, Hubbleprogram scientist at the space agency's Washington, D.C. headquarters, in atelephone interview. "The new science instruments have already been built."

Altman andhis six shuttle crewmates expect to launch towards Hubble from NASA's LaunchPad 39-A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida. A second shuttle must already be atop KSC's other launch site--Pad 39-B--to serve asa rescue shuttle should the Hubble-bound orbiter suffer critical damage duringliftoff or in orbit, NASA officials said.

UnlikeNASA's ISS-bound shuttle crews, which can takerefuge aboard the orbital laboratory for at least two months should theirspacecraft suffer serious damage, a rescue mission for the 2008 Hubble flightwould have to launch within 25 days of the emergency to aid Altman and hiscrew. The astronauts will, however, carry extra food and other supplies insidetheir spacecraft cabin and cargo bay to support that contingency, which NASAofficials feel is extremely remote.

"We have astrategy that I think equalizes the risk," Altman said, adding that a rescueshuttle would not dock with his own orbiter.

Instead, thetwo vehicles would be linked by a robotic arm that would serve as a bridge toevacuate a crew from a stricken craft, he said, adding that the entire processwould take the better part of a day.

Hubbleupgrades

Altman andhis crew will deliver a new Wide Field-3 camera and Cosmic Origins Spectograph(COS) among the 22,000 pounds (9,979 kilograms) of hardware they willhaul up to Hubble to amplify its ability to observe some of the oldest objectsin the universe.

Fivespacewalks in as many days are required to install the new instruments, as wellas replace all six of Hubble's vital gyroscopes and perform other necessaryupgrades or repairs--including a first-ever orbital fix of the observatory'sSpace Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), which made the firstdetection of an atmosphere around an extrasolar planet before going offlinein 2004.

"At theconclusion of this mission, Hubble will be at the apex of its capabilities," David Leckrone, senior scientist for Hubble at NASA'sGoddard Space Flight Center, said Tuesday.

During theplanned mission, McArthur will serve as chief shuttle robotic arm operator toaid spacewalkers and perform crucialheat shield inspections to determine the orbiter's health. Grunsfeld,Massimo, Feustel and Good will perform the five extravehicular activities(EVAs) in teams of two to be arranged to have one veteran and one rookieworking outside at any given time.

"I kind offeel like I found my cause in life servicing the Hubble Space Telescope," saidGrunsfeld, who will be making his third trip to the orbital observatory withthe upcoming mission. "I think we have a challenging mission ahead of us."

TheHubble story so far:

• NASA Cancels Shuttle Mission to Service Hubble
• Public Bombards Operators to Save Hubble
• NASA Chief: 'Let's Go Save the Hubble'
• Canadian Robot Top Choice for Hubble Servicing Mission
• Study: Hubble Robotic Repair Mission Too Costly
• NASA Prepares for Possible Shuttle Mission to Save Hubble
• NASA Review: Hubble Headed For Deorbit-Option Only
• Health Checkup: Engineers Work to Stall Hubble's Death
• Hubble Puzzle: How Safe is a Shuttle Servicing Mission?
• Hubble Saved: NASA Approves Shuttle Flight to Service Space Telescope

Podcast:Hubble:The First Great Space Observatory