No malfunctions during the third overhaul of the Hubble Space Telescope, December 1999
by Tamara Traubman
The astronauts have actually already successfully completed the two tasks that were the highest priority, replacing the gyroscopes and the power units of the telescope. "At this point everything looks good, the Hubble is basically back to business," said Kyle Herring, mission control spokesman at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"Hubble" went out of service on November 13, after the fourth gyroscope, out of its six gyroscopes, malfunctioned. The telescope systems are still operational, but the deficiencies in the gyroscopes did not allow it to be stable enough to home in on celestial targets such as distant galaxies for scientific research, so its use was put on hold.
Today, the astronauts are also supposed to replace one of the three "fine guidance sensors" of the "Hubble" with a new sensor unit. Another spacewalk is planned, a third in the series, during which the telescope's radio transmitters will be replaced.
Astronauts have enough oxygen, electrical energy and other equipment to stay in space for another eight hours. The spacewalk planned for today and the additional spacewalk planned for tomorrow may be extended to allow the astronauts to perform additional tasks, if they feel they can do so.
If everything goes as planned, the "Hubble" will be returned to space at one o'clock in the morning, Saturday. The Discovery crew is expected to land on Earth on Monday. {Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 24/12/1999{
