Hubble repair mission to be on IMAX 3-D

William Atkins
Tuesday, 05 May 2009 17:58

Science - Space

The Hubble Space Telescope, named after U.S. astronomer Edward Hubble, was delivered to space by the space shuttle Discovery in April of 1990.

The mission has accomplished many new advances in astronomy, including a more accurate rate of expansion of the Universe and the most-distant visible light survey of some of the most distant objects known to exist in the Universe.

STS-125 will be the fifth repair and service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The repairs to Hubble should allow it to remain functional at least through the year 2013.

At that time, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to be launched into orbit from an Ariane 5 rocket no earlier than June 2013.

The Webb Space Telescope will not replace Hubble, only complement its observations of space objects. Hubble sees in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, while Webb will observe in the infrared portion.

A history of HST (Hubble Space Telescope) is found at NASA’s website entitled “The Hubble Space Telescope.”

The lift-off of STS-125 from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida, can be watched on NASA Television (check your local listings) and on NASA TV on the Internet.

The launch is scheduled for May 11, 2009 at 2:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 1801 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Its eleven-day mission is scheduled to conclude on May 22 when it lands at approximately 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 UTC) at the KSC landing strip.