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WORLD> Photo
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Let there be light: Camera hooked up for Hubble
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-15 13:46
Once the bolt was freed, Feustel pulled out the old camera, the size of a baby grand piano. "This has been in there for 16 years, Drew," said Grunsfeld, "and it didn't want to come out." The spacewalkers followed up with the installation of the new camera. From inside Atlantis, spacewalk overseer Michael Massimino congratulated Grunsfeld and Feustel for "adjusting to the curve ball that was thrown at you." The initial bolt problems caused some anxiety for Hubble officials on the ground. "I'm five years older now than when I came to work this morning," Hubble senior scientist David Leckrone said during an afternoon news conference. "I just hope the rest of the mission is a little bit smoother." The newly inserted wide-field and planetary camera - worth $132 million - will allow astronomers to peer deeper into the universe, to within 500 million to 600 million years of creation. The old one was installed in December 1993 during the first Hubble repair mission, to remedy the telescope's blurred vision. It had corrective lenses already in place and, because of the astounding images it captured, quickly became known as the camera that saved Hubble. It's also been dubbed the people's telescope because its cosmic pictures seem to turn up everywhere. The camera - which has taken more than 135,000 observations - is destined for the Smithsonian Institution. Massimino was corrected when he said it was awesome to get the new wide-field camera in "to unlock the secrets of the universe." "More of the secrets," responded Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist. Grunsfeld, the chief repairman with two previous Hubble missions under his belt, took the lead on the camera and data-handling device replacements. He sounded awe-struck as ever. "Ah, this is fantastic," he said as he floated outside, the bus-sized telescope looming overhead. Hubble's original data handler, which was launched with the telescope 19 years ago, failed in September, just two weeks before Atlantis was supposed to take off on this fifth and final servicing mission. The breakdown caused all picture-taking to cease and prompted NASA to postpone the shuttle flight. Flight controllers managed to get the telescope working again, but NASA decided to replace the faulty computer unit. The goal is to keep Hubble running for another five to 10 years. Early tests of the computer unit showed it was working well. At the end of the spacewalk, the astronauts had some problems installing new latches on the outside of Hubble's door, but used a special repair kit to get the job done. Overall, the spacewalk took 50 minutes longer than planned and the astronauts seemed noticeably weary. Another two-man team will venture out Friday for the second spacewalk. |
