Astronauts Complete "Hold Your Breath" Day of Spacewalks
Two spacewalking astronauts on Saturday tackled one of their toughest repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope -- a meticulous fix of a broken camera -- and installed a new spectrograph that can divine the properties of distant galaxies.Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel spent 6-1/2 hours outside the shuttle Atlantis for the third of five back-to-back spacewalks to upgrade the famous space observatory for another five to 10 years of work.
NASA officials had billed Saturday's spacewalk as the "hold your breath" day for Atlantis' ongoing 11-day mission, the fifth and final servicing call to Hubble before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.
But Grunsfeld and Feustel's tasks came off without a hitch, after two earlier spacewalks were beset with balky equipment that required astronauts to improvise.
Thursday's installation of a new wide-field camera was almost derailed by a frozen bolt.
Saturday's work required Grunsfeld to clamber into Hubble's body, dig into its electronic guts and replace sharp-edged computer circuit boards that were never meant to be repaired in space.
Working mostly by feel, Grunsfeld cut off a mesh grid, unscrewed a protective plate and used a specially designed pair of tongs to pluck out four circuit boards.
It was the first time that NASA had tried to fix an instrument on Hubble rather than replacing it.
"This activity is dedicated to studying the behavior of tiny screws in space," Grunsfeld joked after removing 32 fasteners securing the faulty circuit boards in Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, which shut down in 2007 after a power failure.
Hubble's observations have reshaped scientists' understanding of how galaxies form and change over time, of planet origins and of the mysterious "dark energy" force that is inflating the universe at a faster and faster rate.
The tiniest rip and it's goodbye Grunsfeld. These guys are heroes in my mind. This is extremely dangerous business and the astronauts keep completing their assignments masterfully. What they are doing for mankind is incalculable as well. Our understanding of the Universe based on what this mission is accomplishing will expand exponentially. Like I said, they are true heros and for what it is worth, I'll tip my hat to them every chance I get.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: NASA Danger Mission Atlantis Shuttle Repair Hubble Telescope Spacewalks
The cost of these programs draw a lot of critism but the science is more than worth it.
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Yes,Frank I never understand the complaints about the cost of NASA.It is a tiny sliver of the budget pie.Concidering the money we spend to kill,maime,torture,imprison and steal I'd say NASA is a huge bargain. BTW,I found this link at Crooks And Liars.Nice effort,Matt! Peace,d.
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