26 May 2009
Space Telescope Fix a Success; Shuttle Prepares for June Launch
Obama nominates former astronaut as new NASA administrator
Washington — Space shuttle Atlantis is home after a nearly 13-day mission and a weather-delayed landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 24. Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on June 17, leaving seven flights to go before the shuttle’s final flight in September 2010.
STS-125, the fifth and final repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, completed a demanding and difficult series of spacewalks and technical enhancements to the 19-year-old orbital astronomical observatory, equipping it to continue its astronomy-revolutionizing discoveries through 2014 and perhaps beyond. (See “Atlantis Launch Begins Final Repair Mission for Space Telescope.”)
“This mission highlights what the challenges of spaceflight can bring out in human beings," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said at a briefing May 24. “This mission required the absolute best from the shuttle team, the Hubble science and repair teams and the crew. The results are a tribute to the entire team and the years of preparation.”
In a NASA briefing May 18, after the final spacewalk on flight day 8, Hubble Space Telescope Program scientist Eric Smith congratulated the flight team and everyone involved in the “fabulously successful” mission.
“What I really hope some of those people carry with them is that, although when the science discoveries come out their names may not be on those papers, they should take full credit for all the work they've done because they have made it possible for the science to happen.”
“To my colleagues at the Space Telescope Science Institute and astronomers worldwide, it's show time for us now,” he added. “We got everything we asked for. We're going to have a great mission for years to come.”
The Atlantis astronauts conducted five spacewalks during their flight to enhance and extend the life of the orbiting observatory, rejuvenating Hubble with state-of-the-art science instruments designed to improve the telescope's discovery capabilities by as much as 70 times.
Space shuttle Discovery first deployed Hubble into a 611-kilometer-high (380-mile-high) Earth orbit on April 25, 1990.
PRESIDENT’S CALL
President Obama called Atlantis May 20 from the Oval Office to congratulate the crew on the mission’s success.
“The space program [has] always described our willingness to stretch beyond current boundaries and to look at things in new ways,” Obama said. “So in that way you inspire us all, and I’m hoping that you guys recognize how important your mission is to the world as well as to this country.”
Obama also told the astronauts that he soon would name a new NASA administrator. The space agency has been without a leader since the former administrator, Michael Griffin, left the job in January.
“Just so we’re sure,” Commander Scott Altman joked, “the new administrator [is] not any of us on the flight deck right now, is it?”
Obama declined to hint at the potential candidate in the call but on May 23 the White House announced that Obama will nominate 62-year-old former astronaut and retired Marine Corps Major General Charles Bolden as the agency’s next administrator. The U.S. Senate will have to confirm the nomination.
An audio clip of the White House call to the shuttle is available from the White House Web site.
ENDEAVOUR’S NEXT ENDEAVOR
Endeavour’s 16-day STS-127 mission, to launch June 17, will deliver the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Kibo laboratory to the station.
The mission will carry and install the exposed section of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module exposed facility and experiment logistics module. The new facility is a place for experiments to be accomplished in the open environment of space. A robotic arm will be attached to the pressurized module, Kibo’s main facility, and used to position experiments outside the station. The mission will include five spacewalks.
Mark Polansky will command Endeavour and Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Hurley will serve as pilot. Mission specialists are Navy Lieutenant Commander Christopher Cassidy, Thomas Marshburn, David Wolf and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette.
The mission will deliver Army Colonel Timothy Kopra to the station to join Expedition 20 as a flight engineer and science officer and will return JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata to Earth. This will be the first time in space for Hurley, Cassidy, Marshburn and Kopra.
TWITTER IN SPACE
Endeavour commander Polansky is sharing the final weeks of his training on the microblogging Web site Twitter. Polansky invites those interested to submit questions that he will answer from orbit during STS-127.
Questions should be submitted in the form of a video not longer than 30 seconds, posted to YouTube, and a link to the video sent to Polansky's Twitter account at: http://twitter.com/Astro_127.
Questions will be selected each week to be among those Polansky will answer from space, live on NASA Television. Selected questions will be announced on his Twitter feed each week as well. Polansky has chosen two questions so far: “What’s the best thing about being in space?” and “What would happen if you would fly into a black hole?”
Follow Commander Mark Polansky on Twitter and submit your question as a video response on YouTube.
More information about the space shuttle, the International Space Station and Charles Bolden is available at the NASA Web site.
An image gallery of the Hubble repair mission and computer-generated artist renderings of space station assembly steps are also available on the NASA Web site.
