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STS-125: The mission

A detailed step-by-step preview of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to extend the life and vision of the Hubble Space Telescope.

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STS-125: The EVAs

The lead spacewalk officer provides indepth explanations of the five EVAs to service Hubble during Atlantis' flight.

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STS-125: The crew

The seven shuttle Atlantis astronauts hold a press conference one month before their planned launch to Hubble.

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STS-125: NASA leaders

The leaders of NASA's Space Operations and Science directorates give their insights into the upcoming shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

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STS-125: Shuttle boss

The head of NASA's space shuttle program discusses the risks and plans for Atlantis' trek to Hubble.

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The Hubble program

An overview of the Hubble Space Telescope program and the planning that has gone into the final servicing mission.

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Hubble's future science

The new instruments to be installed into Hubble and the future science objectives for the observatory are previewed.

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Meet the Hubble crew

Meet the crew launching on Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope and learn how each became an astronaut in this special biography movie.

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Spacewalker pulls off tricky camera repair with ease
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: May 16, 2009

In what amounted to electronic brain surgery, a spacesuited astronaut cut through shielding on a broken camera deep inside the Hubble Space Telescope today, removed a cover plate that wasn't designed to be taken off in orbit, used a custom tool to pull out four blown circuit boards and then installed a fresh set.


A helmet-mounted camera shows spacewalker John Grunsfeld removing a circuit card from the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Credit: NASA TV
 
Running up to an hour ahead of schedule at one point, astronomer-astronaut John Grunsfeld, a self-described "Hubble hugger" making his third visit to the telescope, then spliced in an electrical cable and connected it to a new low-voltage power supply that replaced one destroyed in 2007 by a catastrophic short circuit.

The improbable repair job went smoothly, with virtually no problems of any significance, and by 2:56 p.m., the final connections had been made, catching ground engineers by surprise.

"All connectors are mated," astronaut Michael Good radioed from Atlantis.

"Houston copies. Again, great work on that," astronaut Dan Burbank replied from mission control. "We've got to modify our aliveness test. It may take a little bit longer, didn't expect to be this far along."

"Well that's good news, thanks Houston."

Grunsfeld and crewmate Andrew Feustel then gathered their tools and equipment while engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., sent commands to verify the sophisticated instrument's three camera channels were, in fact, properly connected.

Mission control commentator Pat Ryan reported at 3:22 p.m. that the Advanced Camera for Surveys had, in fact, passed its initial aliveness test. The crew was informed at 3:51 p.m.

"Atlantis, Houston, for EVA. We have a good aliveness test on ACS," Burbank radioed.

"Woo hoo!" someone exclaimed from orbit.

"Ah, that's unbelievable!" Grunsfeld said.

"It's believable," someone said.

"I'm hoping one and a half electrons are left," Grunsfeld joked.

"Nice work, guys," Atlantis commander Scott Altman radioed. "Congratulations to you John, and Drew, for a great effort. I know it was made possible by all the folks who really put a plan together in record time to save ACS. So our thanks to them as well."

"Great words, Scooter," Grunsfeld agreed.

A more detailed functional test will be carried out later to determine the camera's overall health.

Going into the unprecedented repair, only one of the advanced camera's channels, the so-called solar blind camera, was still functioning. Assuming the new circuitry performs as expected, engineers hope to revive the camera's heavily used wide-field channel and, with luck, it's powerful high-resolution channel.

Coupled with the successful installation of the $88 million Cosmic Origins Spectroscope earlier today, Grunsfeld and Feustel chalked up a flawless spacewalk, accomplishing two of the crew's major objectives.

The six-hour 36-minute spacewalk ended at 4:11 p.m., within a few minutes of the targeted time, when Grunsfeld and Feustel began repressurizing Atlantis' airlock. Today's EVA, the third of five planned by the Atlantis astronauts, pushed the crew's total to 21 hours and 52 minutes. Total Hubble EVA time in 21 spacewalks over four servicing missions stands at 151 hours and two minutes. Grunsfeld now ranks fourth on the list of most experienced spacewalkers, with 51 hours and 28 minutes of EVA time during seven Hubble spacewalks over three missions.

The day's work began with removal of the no-longer-needed COSTAR corrective optics package and installation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, a swap out that took about two-and-a-half hours to complete and came off without a hitch.

After COS was installed, Feustel, mounted on the end of the shuttle Atlantis' robot arm, carried the 800-pound COSTAR to the same storage box used to carry the new spectrograph into orbit.

"Just an unbelievable view," Grunsfeld radioed his crewmate. "I've got you and COSTAR, riding the arm, the Earth's limb in view, the curvature of the beautiful blue Earth and a half moon setting."

"Take a picture, John," someone said.

"We are."

A few minutes later, ground controllers reported a successful COS aliveness test, indicating the new instruments was properly plugged into Hubble's power and data management system.

"Drew and John, excellent job getting COS inside and COSTAR out and safe to come home," astronaut Michael Massimino radioed from Atlantis' flight deck.

"I just want to add a special congratulations to ... all the folks at the University of Colorado-Boulder and Ball Aerospace for getting COS up here after all these many years," Grunsfeld said.

The ACS repair work began a few minutes past 1 p.m. Working inside the cramped confines of a Hubble instrument bay, Grunsfeld used a custom grid cutter tool to remove electromagnetic shielding from the phone booth-size camera and then removed six of the Torx fasteners securing a cover plate.

"Number one is out, Bueno," Grunsfeld radioed crewmate Michael "Bueno" Good. "Yay!" A moment later, he added: "I don't think brain surgeons go 'yoo hoo' when they pull something out."

After screwing in mounting posts, he attached a clear plastic "fastener-capture plate" designed to trap the small, non-captive screws holding the cover plate in position.

"This activity is dedicated to studying the behavior of tiny screws in space," Grunsfeld joked. "All the screws are out, Bueno."

Grunsfeld then used a power screw driver to remove the 26 remaining Torx-head fasteners and pulled the cover plate, and the trapped free-floating screws, off to expose four critical circuit boards. Using a custom tool, he extracted the cards one at a time with no problem and replaced them with a box containing four new cards.

"Those cards look new," Grunsfeld said.

"Not like the ones we've been abusing for a couple of years (in training)," Feustel joked.

The final step in the repair job was to wire in a new low-voltage power supply designed to power the high-resolution and wide-field channels of the camera.

During a news briefing Friday, Hubble Project Scientist Dave Leckrone made a Joe Namath-style bet on the outcome of today's spacewalk.

"I have a prediction," he said. "We've always said EVA 3 was going to be the most difficult and the most challenging, and I predict it's going to go more smoothly than any other EVA on this mission. I just think that's some version of Murphy's Law that's going to lead us in that direction."

He was right.

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 3 PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DIRECTOR'S PREVIEW OF MISSION'S DAY 6 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE FROM HST CONTROL CENTER PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SPARE GYRO UNIT INSTALLED INTO THIRD POSITION PLAY
VIDEO: ANOTHER GYROSCOPE UNIT PUT INTO SECOND SLOT PLAY
VIDEO: TROUBLE INSTALLING SECOND GYROSCOPE PACKAGE PLAY
VIDEO: REMOVAL OF SECOND GYROSCOPE PACKAGE FROM HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: INSTALLATION OF FIRST GYROSCOPE INTO HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: REMOVAL OF FIRST GYROSCOPE PACKAGE FROM HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 2 PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DIRECTOR'S PREVIEW OF MISSION'S DAY 5 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE FROM HST CONTROL CENTER PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SOFT CAPTURE MECHANISM PUT ON HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: SCIENCE INSTRUMENT COMMAND & DATA HANDLING UNIT PLAY
VIDEO: PARTIALLY FAILED SIC&DH UNIT REMOVED FROM HST PLAY
VIDEO: WFPC2 CAMERA STOWED IN ATLANTIS FOR RETURN PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF WIDE FIELD CAMERA 3 INSTRUMENT PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS INSTALL THE WIDE FIELD CAMERA 3 PLAY
VIDEO: NEW WIDE FIELD CAMERA 3 PREPPED FOR INSTALLATION PLAY
VIDEO: 16-YEAR-OLD WFPC2 CAMERA REMOVED FROM HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: LATCHING BOLT ON WPFC2 FINALLY RELEASED PLAY
VIDEO: FIGHTING WITH TROUBLESOME BOLT ON WPFC2 PLAY
VIDEO: FEUSTEL INSTALLS HANDLE ONTO WPFC2 FOR REMOVAL PLAY
VIDEO: HANDLING FIXTURE DEPLOYED TO HOLD OLD CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: GRUNSFELD INSTALLS SUPPORT POSTS UNDER HST PLAY
VIDEO: FEUSTEL OPENS LATCHES ON INSTRUMENT CARRIER PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS EXIT AIRLOCK TO START EVA NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 1 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY NIGHT UPDATE FROM HST CONTROL CENTER PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF MOVING HUBBLE INTO PAYLOAD BAY PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ATLANTIS' ROBOT ARM CAPTURES HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST UP CLOSE VIEWS OF HUBBLE IN 7 YEARS PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ENGINE FIRING TO CIRCULARIZE ORBIT PLAY
VIDEO: INSIGHTFUL OVERVIEW OF ATLANTIS' MISSION PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW ANIMATION OF HUBBLE RENDEZVOUS PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY NIGHT UPDATE FROM HST CONTROL CENTER PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: SLOW-MOTION OF DEBRIS THAT APPARENTLY HIT TILES PLAY
VIDEO: TILE DAMAGE FOUND DURING INSPECTIONS PLAY
VIDEO: CAPCOM CALLS CREW ABOUT MINOR DAMAGE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL STS-125 LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: EXTERNAL TANK CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: FOOTAGE OF FUEL TANK AFTER JETTISON PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: FRONT CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 041 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 049 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 050 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 051 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 060 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 061 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 063 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY

VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS BLASTS OFF! PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STS-125 POST-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION OF DAY 1 INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: FINAL PRE-LAUNCH READINESS POLLS CONDUCTED PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE'S CREW MODULE HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST MEGAN MCARTHUR BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT GREG JOHNSON BOARDS ATLANTIS PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST JOHN GRUNSFELD BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE COMMANDER SCOTT ALTMAN BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PART 1 | PART 2
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF LAUNCH PAD GANTRY ROLLBACK PLAY

VIDEO: HUBBLE'S FUTURE AFTER ATLANTIS SERVICING PLAY
VIDEO: TOP DISCOVERIES MADE BY HUBBLE TELESCOPE PLAY
VIDEO: THE ROLLERCOASTER LIFE OF HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: WHAT IS HUBBLE'S PLACE IN HISTORY? PLAY
VIDEO: ENTERTAINING LOOK AT ATLANTIS' CREW PLAY
VIDEO: HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HISTORY MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: A TRIBUTE TO THE CAMERA THAT SAVED HUBBLE PLAY
VIDEO: HUBBLE TELESCOPE PROGRAM BRIEFING FROM SUNDAY PLAY

VIDEO: SUNDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: THE STS-125 PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT THE CAPE FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: NEWS BRIEFING FOLLOWING FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: REFRESHER BRIEFING: THE STS-125 MISSION PLAY
VIDEO: REFRESHER BRIEFING: HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PLAY
VIDEO: REFRESHER BRIEFING: THE SEVEN ASTRONAUTS PLAY

VIDEO: BIOGRAPHY MOVIE OF ATLANTIS' CREW PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER SCOTT ALTMAN PLAY | '09 UPDATE
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH PILOT GREG JOHNSON PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS1 MIKE GOOD PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS2 MEGAN MCARTHUR PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS3 JOHN GRUNSFELD PLAY | '09 UPDATE
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS4 MIKE MASSIMINO PLAY | '09 UPDATE
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS5 DREW FEUSTEL PLAY | '09 UPDATE

VIDEO: SHUTTLE ATLANTIS ARRIVES AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE SUN RISES ON ATLANTIS DURING ROLLOUT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ATLANTIS EMERGES FROM ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORBITER VERTICAL FOR MATING TO FUEL TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ATLANTIS MOVES BACK TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ATLANTIS LEAVES LAUNCH PAD 39A IN OCT. PLAY
VIDEO: TIMELAPSE OF THE ROLLBACK GETTING UNDERWAY PLAY

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS REHEARSE QUICK SHUTTLE EXIT PLAY
VIDEO: CREW BOARDS ATLANTIS FOR MOCK COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SUITS FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S TRAINING ON ESCAPE BASKETS AND BUNKER PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS CHAT WITH PRESS AT LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: CREW TEST DRIVES EMERGENCY PAD ESCAPE VEHICLE PLAY
VIDEO: COMMANDER AND PILOT PRACTICE LANDING APPROACHES PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES AT CAPE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO: COMMENTS FROM COMMANDER AFTER ARRIVING PLAY

VIDEO: AERIAL VIEWS OF ATLANTIS AND ENDEAVOUR PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: THE STS-125 MISSION PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: THE FIVE SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: THE SEVEN ASTRONAUTS PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: NASA LEADERSHIP PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: SHUTTLE PROGRAM BOSS PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: HUBBLE OVERVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING: HUBBLE SCIENCE PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE ARRIVES ATOP PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS EMERGES FROM VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF ATLANTIS' ROLLOUT TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY

VIDEO: ATLANTIS ROLLS FROM HANGAR TO VAB PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS LIFTED INTO PLACE FOR ATTACHMENT PLAY
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