Hubble Spacewalk #4 Concludes

Florida & Cape Canaveral were visible on Saturday.

Atlantis astronauts Mike Massimino and Michael Good have reentered the airlock to close out the fourth spacewalk devoted to restoring and servicing the health of the Hubble Space Telescope's imaging spectrograph.

Delays in removing the 111 screws which hold the protective plate in place over the spectrograph and a trouble some handle on Hubble caused the spacewalk to extend an extra 92 minutes. The delay caused another task to be bumped until tomorrow's fifth spacewalk of the STS-125 mission.

Massimino and Good's second extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk of the mission ended at 5:47 pm EDT, when the pair went from suit power to external power. And, according to Mission Control tonight, today's spacewalk is now the sixth longest in history. A 2001 EVA is listed as the longest.

Today's spacewalk was the 81st from a space shuttle orbiter, and the 22nd in support of servicing the space telescope since the first servicing mission in December 1993. Total Hubble space walking time since that Endeavour mission in 1993 is now 159 hours and 4 minutes.

Following the spectrograph repair, the two began to clean up and stow their tools. It was at athis point around 5:10 pm EDT, that Massimino reported a hole in the palm area of his left white glove. It was reported his suit continued to show a good pressure of 10.2 PSI.

The crew are set to go to bed at 9:30 pm tonight, and will awake eight hours later.

Spectrograph Repairs take up entire Spacewalk

Two spacewalking astronauts ran into delays during the work to replace the imaging spectrograph low voltage circuit board aboard the Hubble Space Telescope causing another task to moved until Monday.

Astronauts Mike Massimino and Michael Good spent about five hours as they struggled with an interfering handle near the panel which houses the circuit board, and the removal of 111 screws which hold the protective panel in place.

Once the cover was finally removed, the pair removed the blown board and replaced it with a new advanced circuit board at 3:59 pm EDT. Minutes later, they installed a new protective cover which uses two clamps to secure it to the housing of Hubble.

At 4:12 pm, Hubble Ground Operations Control in Maryland began an aliveness test with the board, and later discovered it worked great - cheers went up inside and outside Atlantis.

"I think the guys outside have done enough and we're going to be very proud when they come in at the end of this," Atlantis' commander Scott Altman radioed Mission Control late in the spacewalk.

Hubble Spacewalk #4 Begins aboard Atlantis

Spacewalking astronauts are beginning the fourth repair day on aboard Atlantis this morning as Mike Massimino and Michael Good prepare to work on the change out of a circuit board which ran the now dormant Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Spacewalk #4 of the mission began at 9:45 am EDT, about 30 minutes later than planned due to a leak check with the boot of Good's spacesuit.

Extravehicular Activity or EVA 3 astronaut Massimino and EVA 4 Good will spend about 4 1/2 hours of the 6 1/2 hour spacewalk performing the change out the bad computer board on the spectrograph. Later, the pair will install insulation on one of Hubble's bay doors.

You can watch the entire spacewalk LIVE via spacelaunchnews.com.

Hubble's Imaging Spectrograph to get New Life

Hubble and Atlantis over northeastern Africa at 7:25 am

The fourth of five spacewalks to service the Hubble Space Telescope will focus on the repairs of its Imaging Spectrograph which failed in August 2004.

Today's spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 9:16 am EDT, and will be the 81st spacewalk from the space shuttle going back to 1983. Today's orbital walk should last 6 1/2 hours.

Of the Imaging Spectrograph on Hubble, according to Hubble Control in Greenbelt, Md., "its main function is spectroscopy - the separation of light into its component colors or wavelengths to reveal information about the chemical content, temperature and motion of planets, comets, stars, interstellar gas and galaxies".

Astronauts Mike Massimino and Mike Good will use diligence as they replace a low voltage power supply card. A failed power converter on the card is why the Imaging Spectograph went into a safe mode in 2004.

The duo will remove 111 screws on a plate cover to allow access to the spectrograph. They then will take the old card out and click into place the new power supply card. Then the two will use a new cover with two lock-down points which will close up the "cavity" as this replaces the one which took 111 screws to secure.

A very important piece of equipment, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph or STIS, is not responsible for the beautiful Hubble images we see each week. Instead STIS measures the color and wavelengths of an astronomical object to receive a full understanding of its make up. As one Hubble scientist in Greenbelt put it, it "puts the “physics” in astrophysics".

Another task to be performed is the installation of a New Outer Blanket Layer on Bay 8 of the space telescope to provide better insulation to internal instruments. Hubble Control hopes that this weeks repairs will keep the telescope operation through 2014 as it scans the universe from an altitude of 565 km or about 350 miles above earth.

The seven member flight crew led by commander Scott Altman, awoke this morning at 4:31 am EDT, to the song New York State of Mind performed by Billy Joel, and played for Massimino. This will be Massimino and Good's second and final spacewalk of the mission. Thus far, Massimino has 22 hours & 42 minutes of spacewalking time.

Hubble Rotated for Optics Changeout Today

The flight service support - the gold fixture supporting the Hubble Space Telescope was commanded by the crew moments ago to rotate the telescope 90 degrees and we captured that in these series of images from NASA-TV between 8:40 am (top) to 8:52 am EDT (bottom).

This image recorded at 8:49 am shows the reflection of Atlantis forward payload bay up to the crew cabin, and the robotic arm extended up. Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel will depart Atlantis in minutes to begin the third STS-125 spacewalk, and the 21st in support of Hubble servicing since 1993.

Todays Spacewalk to Focus on Optics

Two of Atlantis crew members will venture back outside today to perform an optical change on the Hubble Space Telescope and the removal of corrective lens which restored the observatory to greatness in 1993.

Spacewalking astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel will leave the airlock this morning at about 9:16 am EDT, to begin work to remove COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement) - the optical lens which restored Hubble's blurred vision in December 1993. According to NASA, COSTAR is no longer needed, and will install in its place the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. The 850 pound COS will allow astronomers to see even better stellar regions of our universe.

The pair will later repair of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, a camera which Mission Control in Houston states, "it has been responsible for some of the most famous imagery captured by Hubble".

The ACS is one of the telescope's advanced primary cameras and stopped working in 2007 due to a short circuit. Grunsfeld and Feustel will remove 32 screws from a panal on Hubble and remove it to replace several electronic parts to restore its ability to function again. It was originally installed in 2002.

Spacewalks on Sunday and Monday will complete the Hubble repairs and upgrades before crewmember Megan McArthur - using the orbiter's robotic arm - is scheduled to redeploy the space telescope just before 9 am EDT on Tuesday.

Give Me a Salute

Mike Good throws a salute to his crew inside Atlantis as his partner Mike Massimino works over his left shoulder during today's second spacewalk of the Hubble servicing flight.

Astronauts Complete 8th Longest Spacewalk

The eighth longest spacewalk in orbital flight history wrapped up moments ago by two of shuttle Atlantis astronauts as they continued work to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

Atlantis crew members Mike Massimino (right) and Mike Good concluded the 7 hour, 56 minute spacewalk at 4:45 pm EDT today. "Welcome to the wonderful world of working in a vacuum", one crew member announced after the pair departed the airlock of Atlantis at 8:49 am.

The duo removed and installed three rate sensor units on Hubble during the midday hours EDT. The RSU's are comprised of six gyroscopes. One of the new 24 pound RSU's would not fit properly, so a refurbished spare was used instead to complete the job. All three units under went an aliveness test after each were installed by Hubble ground control in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"Hubble again threw us some curves today," Atlantis' commander Scott Altman radioed Mission Control this afternoon.

Massimino and Good also replaced three nickel-hydrogen batteries from bay 2 of HST as the spacecrafts flew 350 miles above earth. It was the second of five planned extra vehicular activities or EVA's - NASA speak for a spacewalk.

Total Hubble spacewalk servicing time since December 1993 is now 144 hours and 26 minutes. Since today's EVA was the 8th longest, it had me recalling the longest. In March 2001, Susan Helms & James Voss performed an 8 hour & 56 minute spacewalk aboard the then- smaller international space station.

Hubble Spacewalk #1 HD Images from Today

SpaceLaunchNews.com and magazine has just received these beautiful HD images from the crew of Atlantis from today's spacewalk #1 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel replaced the wide field planetary camera #2 with a enhanced #3.

Hubble Upgrade Spacewalk #1 Today

Two of shuttle Atlantis astronauts are about to begin the first of five planned spacewalks this morning in support of upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope and extending the life of NASA's great observatory into 2014 and beyond.

Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel will begin their walk in space at about 8:15 am EDT, as their pair go on internal power & oxygen and depart Atlantis' airlock. The spacewalk, or extra vehicular activity in NASA jargon, is planned to last 6 1/2 hours. This will be the 19th spacewalk in support of Hubble servicing since December 1993.

This will be Grunsfeld's sixth spacewalk in support of Hubble repairs, having visited the telescope on space shuttle flights in 1999 and 2002. He has looged 129 hours & 10 minutes of spacewalking time during the five previous spacewalks.

During the duo's time outside Atlantis, they will replace the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (which was installed in 1993 on STS-61) with a newer Wide Field Camera 3. WFC 3 will, according to Mission Control, "allow Hubble to capture a wide range of images from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths".

If you have time to watch the spacewalk or EVA on your computer at work or home, watch it right now LIVE via http://spacelaunchnews.com. During this EVA, Grunsfeld will be wearing red stripes on his space suit - or extra mobility unit - and Feustel will have no stripes on his EMU. Grunsfeld's helmet camera will be noted with the number 19 on the screen, and Feustel will have the #20 at the lower bottom on the NASA TV screen.

The seven member crew of Mission STS-125 awoke this morning at 4:31 pm EDT, to the muisc of Cake's Stick Shifts and Safety Belts.

Realtime preBerth Hubble Images

Hubble at 1:52 pm EDT, as the telescope and Atlantis fly over Mexico nearing the tip of Texas.

A beautiful view of the Hubble Space Telescope over the payload bay of Atlantis, attached to the ship's 50-foot robotic arm. Baja California lies parallel withe the robot arm, as Atlantis approaches western Mexico at 1:48 pm EDT.

Atlantis Shakes Hands with Hubble

Flying 350 feet above earth, Mr. Hubble's Space Telescope was captured by shuttle Atlantis' robot arm this afternoon as the crew prepares for five solid days to repair and service NASA's great observatory.

Occurring minutes late due to commanding issues to Hubble from Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, Atlantis' commander Scott Altman slowly guided the orbiter up to Hubble, and astronaut Megan McArthur moved the ship's arm out for the 1:13 pm EDT capture in a fantastic orbital ballet in space.

"Houston, Atlantis. Hubble has arrived on board Atlantis," Altman told Mission Control seconds later. "Nice job, Megan," CAPCOM Dan Burbank told the crew. "It's great to be back with the telescope."

McArthur will berth Hubble and lock it down in a gold covered servicing structure in the rear of Atlantis payload bay.

First View of Hubble by Atlantis

First image of Hubble via Atlantis' cameras at 12:39 pm EDT, as the orbiter fly's 190 feet below the space telescope. Beautiful sight.

It has been seven years since we last saw HST.

New grapple time set for about 1:06 pm EDT.

Atlantis 690 feet Below Hubble

Atlantis and her crew are closing in on the Hubble Space Telescope at a rate of 1.2 feet per second. Range: 690 feet. CDR Scott Altman at the aft flight deck flying Atlantis in slowly.

Grapple planned for 12:54 pm EDT. Watch it LIVE via http:/spacelaunchnews.com.

Atlantis to Grapple Hubble Telescope Today

The crew of space shuttle Atlantis are closing in for the capture of the Edwin P. Hubble Space Telescope, and the start of the busiest days of the new STS-125 mission.

The crew of seven - led by commander Scott Altman, pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists Mike Massimino, John Grunsfeld, Megan McArthur, Mike Good and Andrew Feustel - were awoken this morning at 5:01 am EDT, to the music Upside Down by Jack Johnson, played for robotic arm operator McArthur.

Following a series of burns by Atlantis, the crew will fly Atlantis up from below to meet up and grapple the space telescope at 12:54 pm EDT, with its robot arm controlled by McArthur. The two crafts should be over the island of Madagascar off Africa's east coast at capture. Once captured, McArthur will ease the telescope slowly into a cradle in the aft section of the payload bay.

The gold foiled support service structure has been in space before, dating back to the 1984 STS-41C Solar Max satellite repair mission by Challenger. It was used on previous Hubble servicing flights.

Once NASA's Great Observatory is latched on the service structure, the crew will begin operations to survey the forty-foot tall telescope. The telescope was last "seen" seven years ago by the Columbia STS-109 mission. That flight included thre members of this current crew: Altman, Massimino and Grunsfeld.

Following the Hubble survey, the crew will check out their space suits for tomorrow's first of five planned walks in space to outfit HST with new equipment. Later, the crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 8:31 pm.

Atlantis to Inspect Tiles; Prepare for Hubble

Atlantis soars at 4:28 am ET this morning. NASA

The seven member crew of Atlantis will have a busy second day in space today as they prepare equipment for tomorrow's capture of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the inspection of the orbiter's heat protective thermal times and blankets for any damage following yesterday's launch.

At midnight EDT, the space telescope trailed behind Atlantis by about 4,000 miles, as Atlantis flew 180 miles above earth and Hubble 350 miles above. Atlantis traveling at a lower orbit allows the crew to catch up with Hubble at a quicker rate. Orbital mechanics.

Awoken at 5:01 am EDT, to the music "Kyrptonite" by 3 Doors Down, pilot Gregory Johnson replied to Mission Control in Houston, "Good morning, Houston. Great wake-up song, I really appreciate that."

First up, robotic arm controller Megan McArthur will use the shuttle's 50-foot arm to grapple the large orbiter boom sensor around 7:30 am EDT. The boom sensor is an extension to the robot arm - so that she can use a camera and laser sensor at the end of the OBS to survey the underside, wing leading edges and nose cap regions of Atlantis for any tile or thermal blanket damage.

While the nearly seven hour survey operation is underway, mission spacewalk crew members John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel will begin spacesuit and spacewalk tools checkout in preparation for the first spacewalk on Thursday morning, which will see the wide field planetary camera 2 replaced with WFC #3.

There are five planned spacewalks in as many day to replace parts on the telescope and inspect for micrometorite damage since the shuttle's last visit to Hubble. The last time we looked upon NASA's great observatory was in March 2002 with shuttle Columbia on STS-109. Three of the current Atlantis crew members flew aboard that Columbia flight seven years ago - commander Scott Altman, Mike Massimino & Grunsfeld.

Atlantis set sail upon the ocean of space on Monday afternoon to begin an 11 day mission. Commander Altman, pilot Johnson, and mission specialists Grunsfeld, Feustel, McArthur, Massimino and Michael T. Good are scheduled to land back here at the Kennedy Space Center on May 22 at 11:41 am EDT.

Atlantis Launches on Hubble Servicing Mission

Atlantis launches today at 2:01 pm. NASA-KSC Images

A flawless countdown and beautiful weather was all the Kennedy Space Center needed today to get the space shuttle Atlantis on her way to orbit with a crew of seven on a high profile but delayed mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

"At last our launch has come along," said commander Scott Altman minutes before launch. "Getting to this point has been challenging, but the whole team, everyone, has pulled together to take us into space."

Liftoff occurred on time this afternoon at 2:01:56 pm EDT, from launch complex 39-A to begin an 11 day mission. Seconds into the ascent phase, a warning alarm sounded related to the orbiter's main propulsion system engine 1 in the cockpit and mission control told Altman and Johnson to ignore it.

Another issue which space shuttle mission management team chairman Mike Mosses stated, "Right away off the pad, ASA-1 [AeroSurface Actuator] which is a flight control feedback system that controls the aerosurfaces, all the TVC [Thrust Vector Controllers]... it's one of four systems and it failed. It looks like the power failed to that unit and took it down. Again, it was one of four, it was no issue, it bypassed itself. The crew's going to leave it alone for now while the teams look at it."

Two minutes into the ascent, the space shuttle's twin rocket boosters separated after providing much of the powered thrust to get the heavy orbiter closer to space.

Led by Altman, the STS-125 Atlantis crew includes pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission Specialists Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel and Michael Good.

This will be the final servicing visit to Hubble, and the last American space flight to fly above 300 statue miles. Hubble is orbiting earth at about 350 miles, inclined to earth's equator 28.45 degrees. Atlantis is scheduled to grappled the 19 year-old space telescope on Wednesday at 12:54 pm EDT.

Once Atlantis has Hubble docked in its payload bay, crew members will perform five planned spacewalks to install new equipment and update existing parts to keep the telescope operation through 2014.

The first spacewalk will start on Thursday morning and see astronauts Grunsfeld and Feustel remove the wide-field planetary camera and install the wide field camera III beginning at about 9:26 am.

Atlantis Launch Day Activities

Here is a rundown of upcoming launch day activities here at the Kennedy Space Center as the launch team prepares Atlantis for flight. All times EDT.

10:11 a.m.	Countdown resumes at T-3 hours
10:16 a.m.	Atlantis astronauts depart crew quarters for Launch Pad 39A
10:46 a.m.	Astronauts arrive at the launch pad and begin to board Atlantis
12:01 p.m.	Atlantis' hatch is closed and latched for launch
12:51 p.m.	Countdown enters a 10-minute planned hold at the T-20 minute mark
1:01 p.m.	Countdown resumes at the T-20 minute mark
1:12 p.m.	Countdown enters a 40-minute planned hold at the T-9 minute mark, during which the Mission Management Team, and Launch Control team will conduct polls to give a final "go" decision for launch
1:52 p.m.	Countdown resumes at the T-9 minute mark
1:56 p.m.	Auxiliary Power Units start at the T-5 minute mark
2:01 p.m.	Atlantis lifts-off on the STS-125 mission

Flight Crew Awake; Atlantis Fueling Underway

Atlantis stands ready for today's launch at 6.25 am ET

The seven member crew of the space shuttle Atlantis awoke this morning to begin final preparations for their launch this afternoon on a 11-day mission to repair and service the Edwin Hubble Space Telescope.

The crew consisting of Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory Johnson and mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur, awoke at 5:30 am EDT from the top story of the Operations and Checkout building here at the Kennedy Space Center.

About an hour earlier, at 4:41 am EDT, the launch team in the firing room was given the go to begin fueling operations in which nearly 500,000 gallons of super cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are pumped into the huge rust colored tank for flight. These fuels when mixed fuel the space shuttle main engines for the eight and a half minute climb to space.

Be sure to follow us via Twitter for cellphone or PDA updates while your on the go; and watch the launch LIVE from your desk right here at spacelaunchnews.com. God speed Atlantis.

Atlantis Poised for Monday Launch

Atlantis at 5:36 pm EDT, awaits her Monday launch.

The huge rotating service structure which protects the space shuttle from weather and allows technicians access to the payload bay was swung away late this afternoon, exposing Atlantis as she awaits her Monday launch.

The Launch Complex 39-A RSS began it's roll back from Atlantis at 5:22 pm EDT, and within 25 minutes, was in the launch position. The weather has been beautiful - but hot! It was 89 degrees F, with a heat index of 93F as the service structure began its move. The gaseous oxygen vent hood lay parked in the hover position over the tip of the external tank.

Launch remains targeted for 2:01 pm EDT tomorrow afternoon with the weather forecast to be 90% favorable for liftoff. The launch team is not working any issues late today.