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Anxious NASA officials watch high readings on shuttle
In this story:
- Rendezvous set for Thursday
- 'One of the crown jewels of humanity'
- Hubble's cost per citizen: 2 cents a week
- Related stories and sites
February 10, 1997
Web posted at: 8:50 p.m. ESTCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- Anxious NASA officials watched unusually high oxygen readings aboard the shuttle Discovery as time neared for the spaceship's blastoff on a mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.
Officials said Monday afternoon they were confident that the high readings in Discovery's fuselage would not delay the planned 3:55 a.m. EST launch Tuesday.
"It's a very low level reading," said Bob Sieck, director of shuttle operations. "We don't think this is going to be a show stopper."
Earlier tests ruled out a leak in the shuttle's fuel system, which combines extremely cold liquid oxygen with liquid hydrogen. The system also generates electrical power and drinking water as by-products.
Engineers suspect either that they are seeing false readings from gas detectors, or that nitrogen gas used to ventilate the fuselage contained air.
The launch team faced a second hurdle with the shuttle's fuel cells Monday. Tests were under way to check that one of the three devices was working properly. There was a concern that it might produce drinking water that was too alkaline.
Rendezvous set for Thursday
Four spacewalks are planned to install $300 million worth of upgraded components and two new instruments. The latter, a near-infrared camera and a two-dimensional spectrograph, will allow Hubble to see even farther into the depths of the universe and with greater detail.
In particular, says flight engineer Steve Hawley, they will allow scientists studying the origins of the universe to "penetrate stellar nurseries (and) begin to add some closure to those questions."
The astronauts underwent special training to learn to handle the telescope in a way that won't bend the fragile supports of the Hubble's solar panels.
The five men on the shuttle crew are Commander Ken Bowersox, Pilot Scott Horowitz, and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Steve Hawley, Greg Harbaugh and Mark Lee.
'One of the crown jewels of humanity'
If all goes well, the result should be a telescope that is everything scientists ever hoped it could be.
"The Hubble Space Telescope has turned out to be one of the crown jewels of humanity in all of its history, and it is worth vastly more than we have paid for it," said NASA astronomer David Leckrone.
Hubble technology has already provided one medical dividend on Earth. The digital imaging technology developed for the two-dimensional spectrograph is being used in a new, non-surgical technique for performing breast biopsies.
Hubble's cost per citizen: 2 cents a week
NASA's chief Hubble scientist, Ed Weiler, estimates each American is paying less than $1 a year in taxes for the telescope -- less than 2 cents a week.
Add the price of a typical space shuttle flight -- $448 million -- to the $300 million in new equipment and other costs, and this mission will cost $795 million.
The current annual cost to operate and maintain Hubble is $230 million, slightly lower than previous years because of government downsizing.
With a U.S. population of nearly 267 million people, that $230 million breaks down to 86 cents per person this year -- or 1.65 cents a week.
NASA has spent $3.8 billion on the Hubble program, including the cost of this shuttle mission, since the late 1970s.
Correspondent John Holliman, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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CNN Interactive's extended coverageRelated story:
- NASA looks for oxygen leak; shuttle liftoff still on schedul - February 9, 1997
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- Johnson Space Center Shuttle Countdown STS-82
- Hubble Space Telescope Science
- Space Station Mir Info Page
- Tracking the mission
- Watch the crew - NASA TV
- Watch the crew - streaming video
- Meet the Crew
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