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J. Grunsfeld, S. Altman, D. Carey, N. Currie, R. Linnehan, M. Massimino, J. Newman (NASA/Johnson Space Center)
On 2002 March 1 Space Shuttle Columbia departed planet Earth to rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope in a nearly 600km orbit on a ten day mission. The Hubble was captured by Columbia’s robotic arm and placed within the payload bay of the Space Shuttle. A team of space walking astronauts, working in 2 teams of 2 astronauts each, performed 5 space walks (Extra-Vehicular Activity or EVA) to service the telescope. In the first and second EVAs the Hubble’s solar arrays were replaced and a new Reaction Wheel Assembly was installed. On the third EVA the Power Control Unit on the Hubble was replaced, requiring the Hubble to be powered off completely—the first time in 12 years on orbit it has been un-powered. On the fourth EVA the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) was installed. On the fifth EVA a cooling system for the Near Infra-red Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) was installed restoring vision to NICMOS. This talk will present not only the astronaut’s viewpoint of the Hubble Servicing Mission, but also those of an astronomer in space. Images from the ACS and restored vision of NICMOS will be presented.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.