NASA hopes to launch Hubble mission one day early

William Atkins
Friday, 24 April 2009 20:12

Science - Space

According to the GOES Project website, the GOES-O is the “… newest generation of environmental satellites built by Boeing for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the technical guidance and project management of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.”

And, according to the NASA/GOES website, “GOES-O is the latest weather satellite developed by NASA to aid the nation's meteorologists and climate scientists.... The spacecraft in the series provide the familiar weather pictures seen on United States television newscasts every day. The satellites are equipped with a formidable array of sensors and instruments. GOES provides nearly continuous imaging and sounding, which allow forecasters to better measure changes in atmospheric temperature and moisture distributions and hence increase the accuracy of their forecasts. GOES environmental information is used for a host of applications, including weather monitoring and prediction models.”

NASA mission STS-125 is fifth and final space shuttle mission to service and upgrade the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Space shuttle Atlantis will launch two new science instruments, along with stabilizing gyroscopes, batteries and thermal blankets to refurbish the orbiting space telescope and to extend its lifetime for another five years, probably until at least 2013.

Five spacewalks are scheduled to be conducted during STS-125 in order to make all the necessary repairs and upgrades to Hubble.

Although not yet approved, if NASA does authorize the one-day earlier launch of STS-125 on May 11, it will be scheduled to occur at 2:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Deputy Space Shuttle program manager Leroy Cain stated, “I feel fairly confident that we can make a May 11 launch date.” [Space.com: “Mission to Save Hubble Could Launch a Day Early”]

The launch can be watched on NASA Television (check your local listings) or on NASA TV on the Web.