Image Archive: Launch/Servicing Missions

Servicing mission

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 21:17:27 +0200

This image shows an astronaut working on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The photo was taken during Servicing Mission 4.

Servcing mission

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 21:15:57 +0200

Hubblecast 29: mission accomplished: healing hubble

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:20:00 +0200

The fifth and final mission to the iconic Hubble Space Telescope was a long time coming. After a delay in the fall of 2008, spring brought new hope and, on 11 May, the seven Space Shuttle crew members headed for the mission of a lifetime.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:30:00 +0200

This image was taken from the Space Shuttle Atlantis just after the Hubble Space Telescope was intercepted by the Shuttle’s robotic arm during Servicing Mission 4.

Reflecting on work

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:30:00 +0200

A close-up of Astronaut John Grunsfeld shows the reflection of Astronaut Andrew Feustel, perched on the robotic arm and taking the photo. The pair teamed together on three of the five spacewalks during Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009.

Astronauts at work on Hubble

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:30:00 +0200

Astronauts Andrew Feustel (partially obscured at top) and John Grunsfeld work to install the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on the third spacewalk of Servicing Mission 4.

SM4: Atlantis Liftoff

Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

White clouds of smoke and steam sandwich space shuttle Atlantis as it roars off Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy space Center in Florida with its crew of seven for a rendezvous with NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle Atlantis heads for Hubble

Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The start of Servicing Mission 4 began with a picture perfect liftoff from Kennedy Space Center.

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off

Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

This image of Space Shuttle Atlantis was taken from the press site at Kennedy Space Center. Atlantis launched at 2:01 p.m. EDT (20:01 CEST) on 11 May 2009 with its crew of seven to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the final time.

Atlantis is on its way to Hubble

Mon, 11 May 2009 20:00:00 +0200

In a bright, loud and visibly perfect launch, space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 2:01 p.m. EDT (20:01 CEST). The seven astronauts of STS-125 are headed for their rendezvous with Hubble Space Telescope.

Over an 11-day mission, veteran astronauts Scott Altman, Gregory C. Johnson, John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino and rookies Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and perform the component replacements that will keep the telescope functioning into at least 2014.

Atlantis also will carry a replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit for Hubble. Astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, removing the one that stopped working on Sept. 27, 2008, delaying the servicing mission until the replacement was ready.

New launch date for Servicing Mission

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:00:00 +0100

NASA officials announced Thursday that Shuttle mission STS-125 to repair the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is now scheduled for launch on 12 May 2009.

The delay to the mission, from the original launch date in September, was due to the failure of a data-handling unit on the telescope. Despite a successful switchover to a back-up unit, officials decided that a replacement unit would need to form part of the servicing mission. Since then engineers have conducted a series of tests on a spare unit to ensure it is qualified for spaceflight. These tests are on schedule and the plan is to ship the replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling System for integration on the Shuttle payload in spring 2009.

Servicing Mission 4 is the last repair mission to Hubble, and will see the installation of two new instruments, WFC3 and COS, the repair of two others, ACS and STIS, along with other upgrades to the spacecraft.

System anomalies take Hubble off line

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

The process of restoring the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to operational status was temporarily put on hold due to a couple of anomalies observed on the spacecraft during reconfiguration.

The first event, occurring at ~19:40 CEST, 16 October, led to a suspension in operations of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) when a power source in the Solar Blind Camera failed to activate. The camera software was undertaking a series of checks and determined that a low voltage power source was not producing the minimum 8 volts required and automatically put the instrument into safe mode. While the cause is known it is unclear at the moment what the work around is.

At ~23:14 CEST, 16 October, an as yet unknown problem affecting the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH;) system caused the main science computer to stop issuing a keep-alive signal. The main computer and the science computer send back a signal to each other to indicate their active status. The main spacecraft computer on Hubble did not detect the signal from the science machine and commanded both the science computer and the instruments to return to safe mode. Engineers are now working through a data downloaded from the instruments and the science computer. Data obtained from the all the computers are being time correlated to see if a minor anomaly elsewhere caused the science computer to fail. This problem is potentially easier to resolve. If the problem is isolated to the B-channel computer then it is possible to switch back to the A-channel computer, but use the B-channel for all other functions.

On a positive note both WFPC2 and NICMOS came back online as expected and there were no problems reported with either instrument. If the other issues can be resolved there is a good chance of restoring Hubble to science operations within the next 7-10 days.

Both the anomalies are covered under contingency plans, i.e. these possible scenarios were planned and procedures for work-arounds exist, and as a result there should be no impact to the revised launch schedule for SM4.

Image credit: NASA/ESA

Launch date set for fifth Hubble servicing mission

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:00:00 +0200

The launch date for the fifth and final Servicing Mission to the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been officially set by NASA managers to 10 September 2008. During the 11-day flight, originally termed Servicing Mission 4, space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts will repair and improve the observatory?s capabilities through 2013.

Mission planners have been working since last fall, when the flight was announced, to determine the best time in the shuttle manifest to support the needs of Hubble while minimizing the impact on the International Space Station (ISS) assembly. The Hubble mission will also support an additional ?launch on need? flight. In the unlikely event a rescue flight becomes necessary, shuttle Endeavour is currently planned to lift off from Launch Pad 39-B at NASA?s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. However, managers are constantly evaluating the manifest to determine the best mission options.

Space Shuttle missions beyond the Hubble flight are still being assessed. Shuttle and ISS program officials will continue to consider options for the remainder of the shuttle flights in order to complete construction of ISS by 2010 when the shuttle fleet will be retired. Those target launch dates are subject to change.

The Hubble Space Telescope is an international cooperative project between NASA and the European Space Agency.

Artist's view of the Shuttle servicing mission to HST

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:00:00 +0100

This artist's impression shows the Space Shuttle during the currently planned Servicing Mission (SM4) to repair and upgrade the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 2008.

This Servicing Mission will not only ensure that Hubble can function for perhaps as much as another ten years, it will also increase its capabilities significantly in key areas. As part of the upgrade, two new scientific instruments will be installed: the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3.

HST Servicing Mission in 3D

Tue, 12 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0100

HST Servicing Mission in 3D

SM3B - overview of the installation of ACS

Tue, 12 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0100

This artist's impression shows an overview of the installation of Hubble's new Advanced Camera for Surveys during Servicing Mission 3B in 2002.

SM3B - A trail of smoke marks the path of the Space Shuttle Colombia

Tue, 12 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0100

Colombia heads into the early morning sky on its way to the Hubble Space Telescope on 1 March 2002 for Servicing Mission 3B.

SM3B - a gyro is exchanged

Tue, 12 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0100

This artist's impression shows a view from above of the exchange of one of Hubble's Gyroscopes during Servicing Mission 3B in 2002.

FOC being removed from the ESA/NASA Hubble space telescope during Servicing Mission 3B

Thu, 07 Mar 2002 15:00:00 +0100

The Faint Object Camera (FOC), the last of the original Hubble instruments, is removed during the fourth servicing mission (SM3B) in March 2002.

FOC will, at the time of the Space Shuttle's landing on 12 March 2002, have spent 4340 days in space since the launch on 24 April 1990. This is the longest time that any piece of hardware has spent in space before being retrieved and returned to the ground.

Hubble gets revitalised in new servicing mission

Fri, 15 Feb 2002 15:00:00 +0100

Artist's impression of servicing mission 3B, when the Faint Objects Camera (FOC) was removed and replaced with newer and more powerful instruments designed to greatly increase Hubble's discovery capabilities and extend the longevity of the observatory.

The Hubble Space Telescope and the Faint Object Spectrograph

Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:00:00 +0200

This illustration shows the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in orbit above the Earth as it looked before the Second Servicing Mission in 1997. The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) can be seen (marked in yellow) in Hubble's instrument bay at the back of the observatory. During the Second Servicing Mission the two first generation instruments, FOS and the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), were replaced by the second generation instruments, NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer) and STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph). A dedicated team effort to understand and correct systematic effects in observations from FOS has now been concluded and the results are released on 11 September 2001. A four-person team based at the Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF) in Garching, Germany, has carried out this re-calibration with support from scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Goddard Space Flight Center. ST-ECF's 'Instrument Physical Modelling Group' has expended ten man-years of effort in understanding the intricate details of the instrument and in developing a novel physical model of its operation. This has allowed them to develop routines to correct for unwanted instrumental and environmental effects in the measurements of stars and galaxies.

Solar Array

Fri, 14 Jan 2000 15:00:00 +0100

An astronaut waving under one of the solar arrays.

SM3A: Hubble captured in Discovery's Cargo Bay

Fri, 14 Jan 2000 15:00:00 +0100

This electronic still camera's view and others in this series showing the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) being berthed in Discovery's bay were recorded during and soon after capture.

SM3A: EVA

Fri, 14 Jan 2000 15:00:00 +0100

Astronauts Steven L. Smith, and John M. Grunsfeld, appear as small figures in this wide scene photographed during extravehicular activity (EVA).

SM3A: Discovery Touchdown at Kennedy Space Center

Tue, 28 Dec 1999 15:00:00 +0100

The orbiter Discovery looks like a blue ghost as it drops from the darkness onto lighted runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. After traveling more than 3, 267,000 miles (about 430 thousand kilometres) on a successful eight-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, the orbiter touches down at 7:00:47 p.m. EST.

Aboard are Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot Scott J. Kelly, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland and Jean-Frangois Clervoy of France, who spent the Christmas holiday in space in order to accomplish their mission before the end of 1999.