William Atkins
Monday, 06 April 2009 20:56
Science -
Space
Page 3 of 4
The satellite was stabilized overnight with the help of ground controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center and then the men tried again on mission day four but, this time, with a slightly different angle of attack. They had a backup plan, just in case.
This time astronaut Hart, from inside the shuttle used the mechanical arm called the Remote Maneuvering System (
RMS, commonly called the Canadian Arm, or Canadarm) to grab onto the satellite.
Hart successfully connected to the SMM and proceeded to place Solar Max into a special holding station (a “cradle”) within the payload bay of the shuttle so they could begin repairs and maintenance to it.
After two spacewalks to add new equipment to the Solar Max satellite, it was ready to continue its mission to study the Sun.
Consequently, the first rescue and repair mission of an orbiting satellite in space was successfully completed. Controllers on Earth confirmed Solar Max was functioning ok, and it was released to fulfill its mission.
Now, it is twenty-five years later and we are near the end of the Space Transportation System (
STS) program and its fleet of aging space shuttles.
However, the space shuttle astronauts are now preparing to perform the last maintenance and repair mission of the STS program. They will be reviving the Hubble Space Telescope from its lofty position above the Earth.
The mission is now scheduled for liftoff on April 12, 2009, at about 1:11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 1711 UTC, from the Kennedy Space Center.
The STS-125 mission consists of the space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of commander Scott Altman, pilot Gregory Johnson, and mission specialists Michael Good, K. Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, and Andrew Feustel.
The crew will replace the Fine Guidance Sensor on the Hubble, along with giving it six new gyroscopes and batteries. They will also install a new thermal blanket to protect the telescope from the heat of the Sun.
Page four concludes with additional information about the Hubble mission, along with comments from the author.
