Mike Massimino and Mike Good, May 17, 2009 NASA
Fixing the Hubble Space Telescope and watching repairs live as they happen on the web is science, news and history-making entertainment at its best.
You can share the ongoing adventure with your child by simply visiting NASA’s web site and pulling up the daily program schedule of events; then surfing into NASA’s live feed; check your viewing options (on the right side of the screen – Windows Media “full screen” works best), and then you're good-to-go.
Today’s spacewalk and repairs were performed by STS-125 mission specialists Mike Massimino and Mike Good and unfortunately ran overtime due to very delicate bolt removal issues. (Not the easiest work to perform in bulky space suits while traveling at five miles per second, and circling the globe every 97 minutes - along with dodging space debris from previous explorations.)
However, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) electronics card was successfully installed and a new cover was mounted as planned.The STIS is designed to give advanced scientific insights into the formation of galaxies, stars and planets.
The new Outer Blanket work that was scheduled for today’s spacewalk will have to be integrated into tomorrow’s repairs, which is the fifth and final spacewalk before the Atlantis heads for home on Friday, May 22, 2009.
If you want to catch up on previous spacewalks that you may have missed, NASA’s “Access Hubble” provides the archived footage on video format on-line.
You can also meet the entire Atlantis crew and learn more about this historic mission by clicking on “The Last Mission to Hubble."
The Hubble Space Telescope has been NASA’s most successful long-term science mission, “going where no man has gone before,” providing glorious images and unparalleled data.
As Star Trek’s Science Officer Spock would say, “Fascinating.”
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