The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) transitions back to its normal observing routine after a week of servicing and upgrading by the STS-109 astronaut crew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in March 2002.
Credit: NASA
Tags: Hubble Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission NASA Servicing Mission 3B STS-109
With five days of service and upgrade work on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) behind them, the STS-109 crew members aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia took a photograph of the entire telescope in the shuttle's cargo bay. The seven-member crew completed the last of its five ambitious spacewalks on March 8, 2002, with the successful installation of an experimental cooling system for Hubble’s Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The NICMOS had been dormant since January 1999 when its original coolant ran out.
Credit: NASA
Tags: Hubble Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission NASA Servicing Mission 3B STS-109
Astronaut Richard M. Linnehan, mission specialist, uses a laser ranging device designed to measure the range between two spacecraft. Linnehan positioned himself on the cabin's aft flight deck as the Space Shuttle Columbia approached the Hubble Space Telescope. A short time later, the STS-109 crew captured and latched down the giant telescope in the vehicle's cargo bay for several days of work on the Hubble. The image was recorded with a digital still camera.
Tags: Hubble Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission NASA Servicing Mission 3B STS-109
The Hubble Space Telescope is backdropped against the black of space as the Space Shuttle Columbia, with a crew of seven astronauts on board, eases closer and closer in order to latch its 50-foot-long robotic arm onto a grapple fixture on the giant telescope. As Columbia flew 350 miles above the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico, with astronaut Nancy J. Currie, mission specialist, in control of the arm and astronaut Scott D. Altman, mission commander, at the controls of the shuttle, the crew went on to capture Hubble. The image is one of a series recorded with a digital still camera.
Tags: Hubble Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission NASA Servicing Mission 3B STS-109
The Hubble Space Telescope, sporting new rigid solar arrays and other new hardware, begins its separation from the Space Shuttle Columbia. The STS-109 crew deployed the telescope back into space at 4:04 a.m. CST on March 9, 2002. Afterward, the seven crew members began to focus their attention on their trip home, scheduled for March 12. The STS-109 astronauts had conducted five spacewalks to service and upgrade Hubble.
Credit: NASA
Tags: Hubble Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission NASA Servicing Mission 3B STS-109