This week the members of the Atlantis team visited the launch pad to examine the condition of the equipment they will use in the flight, including the control and information handling unit whose construction they have been waiting for. They accompanied the loading of the unit in the trunk and will learn how to remove the original unit during a spacewalk.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis has arrived over the past few days so Launch 39A at the Kennedy Space Center is preparing for a May 12 launch for mission STS-125 to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Retired astronaut Scott Altman will command the last shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, and retired Navy officer Gregory Johnson will serve as the mission pilot. The mission experts will be John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimo, who already have spacewalk experience, while Andrew Faustel, Michael Good and Megan MacArthur will fly for the first time.
During the 11 days of the mission, they will perform five spacewalks and install two new instruments. They will also repair two facilities that have stopped working and replace components in the facilities so that they will keep the telescope in proper working order at least until 2014.
In addition to the planned work, Atletnis will also replace at the last minute a scientific device and an information processing unit for the Hubble that failed close to the original date of the launch, about six months ago, and therefore the mission was delayed until the replacement systems were prepared. The astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, replacing the one that stopped working on September 27, 2008.
This week members of the Atlantis team visited the launch pad to examine the condition of the equipment they will use in the flight, including the control and information processing unit. They accompanied the loading of the unit in the trunk and will learn how to remove the original unit during a spacewalk.
In the launch pad, the technicians filled the shuttle's three fuel cells with oxygen and hydrogen, the same cells that provide the astronauts with electricity during the flight.
