Fixing Hubble easier than watching DVDs

updated 3:14 p.m. ET May 22, 2009

HOUSTON - Atlantis astronauts fixed the Hubble Space Telescope so it could beam cosmic pictures to Earth, but playing DVDs on their laptops is proving too difficult.

With an unwanted off day Friday because thunderstorms prevented their scheduled landing, the astronauts intended to pass the time by watching movies they brought on the mission.

But when they tried to play them, they found out that their laptops didn't have the proper software.

Engineers on the ground tried to troubleshoot the problem — just as they did when a hand rail almost prevented spacewalkers from fixing one instrument in Hubble. After more than an hour with no solution, the astronauts gave up.

Astronaut John Grunsfeld radioed to Earth that the astronauts will find other ways to keep busy until they land.

“We’ll be home tomorrow,” Grunsfeld told Mission Control. “We’ll go to the movie theater and that will be our consolation.”

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