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Discovery crew releases new, improved Hubble
Space telescope 'free to study the stars'
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February 19, 1997
Web posted at: 5:00 a.m. EST(CNN) -- Nearly 400 miles above the Earth, the crew of the space shuttle Discovery released the Hubble Space Telescope early Wednesday after a $350 million refurbishment that left it with sharper eyes to probe the universe.
The four-story silver telescope, with golden wings of solar cells, flew free of Discovery's robot arm at 1:41 a.m. EST as the two craft floated over the west coast of Africa.
Shimmering in the sunlight, Hubble slowly drifted away from Discovery for three more years of uninterrupted viewing of the cosmos.
Astronaut Steve Hawley had used the 50-foot-long mechanical limb to raise Hubble from its dry dock in the shuttle's cargo bay, where astronauts had spent about 33 hours outside upgrading its aging instruments and components.
"Like winning the Super Bowl"
"For me and for NASA, it's just like going and winning the Super Bowl," said chief spacewalker Mark Lee.
The telescope had been anchored in Discovery's cargo bay since Thursday.
"Externally, I have to say it's not quite as beautiful as we left it three years ago," Mission Control's Jeffrey Hoffman told the crew. "But we all know that beauty is only skin deep and the real guts of the Hubble are even better now because of the great work that you guys have done."
During the shuttle's service call, two teams of spacewalking astronauts made five spacewalks to fit the $2 billion orbiting observatory with an improved light-splitting spectrograph to seek out black holes and an infrared camera capable of peering through veils of dust.
They also dabbled in electronic brain surgery, installing a new control box for the telescope's solar arrays and a relay system for its computers.
Unexpected repairs
The telescope's peeled, sunburned skin called for some unexpected repairs. A fifth spacewalk was added to the mission to patch up the tears in the observatory's reflective foil skin, which protects it from the extreme temperatures in orbit.
For a while, it seemed as though the crew might have to take an unprecedented sixth spacewalk.
A wheel that is part of the telescope guidance system did not appear to be spinning properly. NASA kept Lee and Smith waiting in their spacesuits as engineers debated whether to have the men replace it.
After an hour, Mission Control decided to bring Lee and Smith back in while the discussion continued. It turned out that the wheel was in fine shape and no repair was needed.
Altogether, Lee, Smith, Gregory Harbaugh and Joe Tanner installed 11 major Hubble components, worth nearly $300 million, during four consecutive nights of spacewalking.
"110 percent successful"
The astronauts' total time outside: 33 hours, 11 minutes, just two hours shy of the five spacewalks conducted in 1993 to fix Hubble's blurred vision.
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"From my viewpoint, we did more than we set out to do," John Campbell, a Hubble manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center said. "I'd say we're 110 percent successful."
A shuttle crew will return to the telescope in December 1999 to install another new instrument, replace its electricity-generating solar panels and better patch up its tattered thermal insulation.
Astronomers hope regular service calls will keep Hubble operating until 2005.
Discovery is scheduled to make a rare nighttime landing on Friday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Related stories:
- NASA considers, rejects record sixth shuttle spacewalk - February 18, 1997
- Astronauts perform coverup - February 17, 1997
- Astronauts complete fourth spacewalk - February 17, 1997
- Three down, two to go - February 16, 1997
- Astronauts dodge space junk for third spacewalk - February 16, 1997
- Astronaut savors first walk in space - February 15, 1997
- Spacewalkers get to work on Hubble tuneup - February 14, 1997
- 'It's a beautiful sight' - February 13, 1997
- Shuttle Discovery blasts off on Hubble service mission - February 11, 1997
Related sites:
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- Hubble Space Telescope Science
- Johnson Space Center Shuttle Countdown STS-82
- Space Station Mir Info Page
- Tracking the mission
- Meet the Crew
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