CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Seven astronauts will set sail on a high-stakes Hubble Space Telescope overhaul this week, aiming to revive the observatory's sightless infrared eyes while outfitting it with the world's most powerful planetary camera.
| STS-109 |
| For complete launch to landing coverage and the most up-to-date news about this mission, click here |
Amid five daunting spacewalks, the astronauts also intend to perform chancy transplant surgery on the electrical heart of Hubble, replacing a crucial but flawed power distribution system as well as its aging solar arrays.
But in what could be a major disaster in the making, the $3 billion telescope will be completely shut down to do the work, an unprecedented move that will put Hubble into an orbital coma.
And if the observatory can't be electrically resuscitated, NASA would end up writing an obituary for the iconic instrument of astronomical discovery.
"It's kind of like open heart surgery, except we don't have it on a heart-lung machine," said NASA lead flight director Bryan Austin.If it doesn't work, "Hubble is dead," astronaut Rick Linnehan added. "There's no power to (the telescope). And that's the end of Hubble."
The odds of that nightmare scenario are said to be remote, but Linnehan and the rest of NASA's Hubble servicing crew nevertheless admit it's a possibility they've all lost sleep over.
"That's my Number One worry," said John Grunsfeld, an accomplished astrophysicist-turned-astronaut and lead spacewalker for the $172 million Hubble servicing call.
Added mission commander Scott Altman: "It's certainly a concern."
The high drama on the high frontier will begin to unfold on the heels of a scheduled shuttle launch Thursday.
Strapped into the crew cabin of Columbia, a pair of shuttle pilots, a crane operator and four telescope mechanics are slated to blast off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:48 a.m. EST (1148 GMT), or just as the sun starts rising above the eastern horizon.
Joining Altman, Grunsfeld and Linnehan will be rookie co-pilot Duane Carey, robot arm operator Nancy Currie and mission specialists James Newman and Michael Massimino, the latter of whom also is a first-time flier.
If all goes as planned, the stubby-winged spaceship will make an eight-and-a-half-minute ascent into orbit, powered by twin solid rocket boosters and three liquid-fueled main engines.
And then the shuttle crew will settle into their craft for a two-day cruise toward Hubble, an acclaimed telescope that has delivered both delight and despair during its 12-year sojourn through low Earth orbit.
Next page: Hubble's roller coaster history
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