Shuttle brings Hubble in for risky overhaul

updated 8:42 p.m. ET May 13, 2009

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Atlantis’ astronauts grabbed the Hubble Space Telescope on Wednesday, then quickly set their sights on the difficult, dangerous and unprecedented spacewalking repairs they will attempt over the next five days.

Hubble and Atlantis are flying in a 350-mile-high (560-kilometer-high) orbit littered with space junk. And some of that debris put a bit of scare into NASA late Wednesday afternoon, but did not hit the shuttle. The Air Force noticed a 4-inch (10-centimeter) piece of debris was on a path to come close to the shuttle.

Left over from the 2007 Chinese destruction of a satellite during a weapon test, the debris was predicted to come within 1.7 miles (2.72 kilometers) of Atlantis a little before 7:30 p.m. ET. NASA determined it didn't need to move Atlantis out of the way, said agency space debris scientist Mark Matney.

The debris missed the shuttle, and Mission Control let it pass by without noting it.

The international space station also is watching a different piece of debris at its lower altitude that has a slight chance of coming close on Friday.

Wing 'dings' pose no threat
The shuttle already has an ugly stretch of nicks from Monday’s launch, but the damage is considered minor and poses no safety threat. NASA continued to prep another shuttle, though, just in case Atlantis is hit by orbital debris and the crew needs to be rescued.

Late Wednesday, Mission Control told astronauts that engineers determined Atlantis' heat shield was in such good shape that no extra inspection would be needed next week.

After seven years of orbital solitude, Hubble looked surprisingly well. Flight controllers gasped when the telescope first came into view.

“It’s an unbelievably beautiful sight,” reported John Grunsfeld, the telescope’s chief repairman. “Amazingly, the exterior of Hubble, an old man of 19 years in space, still looks in fantastic shape.”

'Audible gasps of elation'
NASA astrophysics chief Jon Morse said when Hubble scientists and managers saw the first picture of Hubble there were "audible gasps of elation."

NASA hopes to get another five to 10 years of dazzling views of the cosmos from Hubble, with all the planned upgrades, which should leave the observatory more powerful than ever.

Shuttle robot arm operator Megan McArthur used the 50-foot (15-meter) boom to seize the school bus-sized telescope as the two spacecraft sailed above Australia. Then she lowered the observatory into Atlantis’ payload bay, where cameras checked it out.

Going into the mission, Hubble scientists and managers warned that Hubble might look a little ragged because it hasn’t had a tuneup since 2002. But initial observations showed nothing major.

Spacewalkers to replace camera
“Everybody’s very excited up here, I can tell you,” said Grunsfeld, who will venture out Thursday with Andrew Feustel. They will replace an old Hubble camera that’s the size of a baby grand piano, as well as a science data-handling unit that failed in September and delayed Atlantis’ flight by seven months.

Also Wednesday, NASA found odd particles around equipment in the cargo bay that are used for telescope repairs.

Along one hand rail, white particles look like someone had sprinkled large grain salt from a salt shaker on the rail "from one end to the other," deputy shuttle program manager LeRoy Cain said in a late afternoon news conference. He said it is probably debris that fell off insulation blankets.

The initial worry was that it could contaminate Hubble, but further examination showed that it should not be an issue, said Hubble repair mission operations manager Keith Walyus.

Astronauts will be told to "try to stay out of the way" of the particles, Cain said. There are places where they can grab the handrail and not touch debris.

This is the fifth time astronauts have called upon Hubble. The previous overhauls went well, but those repairs were straightforward, with spacewalkers pulling equipment in and out. This time, Grunsfeld and his team will venture into the guts of broken instruments.

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