Sun, May 17, 2009
"Batting 1000" To This Point
STS-125 mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel
finished the mission’s third spacewalk Saturday at 4:11 p.m.
EDT. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours, 36 minutes. During the endeavor
outside the shuttle, Feustel and Grunsfeld removed the Corrective
Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement and installed in its place
the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. They also completed the
Advanced Camera for Surveys electronic card replacement work. The
spacewalkers were ahead of schedule and were able to complete part
2 of the ACS repair, installing a new electronics box and
cable.
Space shuttle Atlantis’ 11-day mission is the final
shuttle flight to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The
seven-member crew will enhance the observatory and ensure
cutting-edge science. The mission puts in place advanced technology
that improves the telescope’s discovery power by 10 to 70
times. The five scheduled spacewalks will install new instruments
and thermal blankets, repair two existing instruments, refurbish
subsystems and replace gyroscopes, batteries and a unit that stores
and transmits science data to Earth. The result will be six
working, complementary science instruments with new capabilities,
and an extended operational lifespan through at least 2014.
Saturday, the spacewalkers focused on the installation of the
telescope’s new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and completed the
Advanced Camera for Surveys repair work. Engineers from the Space
Telescope Operations Control Center at Goddard Spaceflight Center
in Maryland powered up both components and reported good aliveness
tests. More tests will be conducted during the astronauts sleep
period.
On Sunday, starting at 9:16 a.m., astronauts Mike Good and Mike
Massimino will repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and
install the New Outer Blanket Layer during the fourth STS-125
spacewalk.
More News
Aero Linx: International Business Aviation Council Ltd IBAC promotes the growth of business aviation, benefiting all sectors of the industry and all regions of the world. As a non->[...]
"During the annual inspection of the B-24 “Diamond Lil” this off-season, we made the determination that 'Lil' needs some new feathers. Due to weathering, the cloth-cove>[...]
Also: Bushcat Woes, Hummingbird 300 SL 4-Seat Heli Kit, Carbon Cub UL The newest Junkers is a faithful recreation that mates a 7-cylinder Verner radial engine to the airframe offer>[...]
Also: Seaplane Pilots Association, Rotax 916’s First Year, Gene Conrad After a decade and a half of struggling with the FAA and other aero-politics, G100UL is in production a>[...]
Also: Martha King Scholarship, Montaer Grows, Textron Updates Pistons, FlySto The FAA is hiring thousands of air traffic controllers, but the window to apply will only be open for >[...]