Yeah I want to be an astronaut again

Ethan Allison

If refurbs are good enough for NASA....

chrisaroz

It's really sad thinking that, if something goes wrong like a week after this mission, there will be no more shuttle missions to fix it...

...screw that. It's even sadder thinking that there will be no more shuttle missions PERIOD.

Stang70Fastback

these are the people who should really have playing cards printed after them.

discounteggroll

damn.
being an astronaut on that mission would be haaaaaaaaaard

iwishiwasamime

Pretty amazing stuff, thanks for the post, i don't think many people realize how difficult it really is going to be. I know i didnt. I do hope it all works out.

gotcheeze5793

Fruitloops? Please tell me you're not serious...
I thought everyone knew it was Pops. I mean, he's gotta have his pops...

The Amazing Ant

@discounteggroll: Astronauts don't get enough credit. People fawn over pro athletes, but they couldn't name more than 2 active astronauts.

They're basically like world class racecar drivers who hold several advanced degrees. More parents should make these men and women familiar to their kids and not 90% of the pro athletes we see.

DustyButt

Why not a buy a new one? seriously! does anyone fix there fridge? no, they just buy a new one.

But seriously, reading a previous article on giz it makes me glad that Microsoft's xbox devision didnt make it.

hu_hu_cool

Ignore one of those "one day" 's. I was busy thinking about hooters girls . . .

unibrow4o9

Screws? They couldn't foresee any in the field repairs and used clasps or something besides screws? Whether or not they pull this off, these astronauts are the shiznit.

badhatharry

@DustyButt: Well, maybe one day Hooters will sponsor a shuttle one day.

unibrow4o9

Sadly, they need more Bruckheimer-like promotion like this to attract the attention of Joe Average these days.

Despite all of the negatives heaped upon NASA lately, the astronauts are still the best of the best.

Ogiri W Surie

the screws are don't go flycing away, they stay in place because of a clear fastening plate

rolfo87

Nothing is cooler than science.

mfaerber

@hu_hu_cool:
Well yeah that would be nice, but with spending $10 billion on Iraq Nasa is getting pennies now.

vgart

The "capture instrument" isn't used to recover Hubble, it's so that we can send up a robotic craft, attach it to Hubble, and then fly the two into the atmosphere to destroy them in a controlled fashion, euphemistically called "de-orbiting".

dinsey

Couldnt they use the Magnogrip for holding the scews? I wouldnt think EMI is a problem up there.

thisisasignin

Based on that music, I am fairly sure there was a cloaked Romulan Bird-of-Prey in the background there somewhere.

Oroka

Hubble kicks ass...

That is all.

Con Seannery

I told God not to play with that M-80 at the breakfast table. Take it outside before you light it I said. Would he listen? Fruitloops every f-ing where in a constantly expanding universe. I'll never get this cleaned up.

notlikeacat

@hu_hu_cool:
"Hello, NASA? This is Microsoft. We need you to go bring the Hubble back to Earth so we can refurbish it. You'll have the exact same telescope returned to you in a couple months."

"Screw that. The first time we did that, we clearly got someone else's Hubble returned to us, and the last time you sanded all of our logos off the exterior hull."

@dinsey:
Yeah, it's always better PR if you drop it on the fishies instead of a major population center.

Purple Dave

@badhatharry:
There's a dead power supply involved, and they did not foresee any need to replace or service it, so they just screwed it in and called it good. Everything else is a modular design, so you just pull Junk A out of Slot B and replace it with Part A and everything's fine.

I don't know if it popped up here or somewhere else, but I watched a video about a month ago where they were talking about this mission. They have a clear plexiglas shell that they're going to bond over the part they need to unscrew. Over every screw, there is a hole that's big enough to fit the screwdriver, but _NOT_ big enough for the screw to come out after (this is important as just one free-floating screw could eventually get inside the telescope tube and trash the mirrors). Once they have everything out, they have a modular replacement all ready to just slip back into Slot B without having to fuss around with all those screws. So it's just for that one system that they need to do a job that's probably going to be as arduous as any 2-3 other repair tasks combined.

@thisisasignin:
Can you guarantee that one of those 110 screws won't get knocked loose during the process? And if it does, can you find it again afterwards? The answer to that is why they're going with a plexi shield that'll just seal them all up in a contained space.

Purple Dave

@dinsey: I think it's a shame that they aren't going to bring Hubble back to earth. After all it's been through.. after all the science it's provided.. after all of the ground break missions which help to establish the systems and proceedures that are going to be used in future space servicing missions.. What are we going to do? Yeah.. that's right burn it up.

You know, some things are worth saving, regardless of cost or RISK. When all is said and done, Hubble deserves and has earned the right to get put into the Smithsonian.

If NASA can't afford to bring it home, then start saving pennies and do it later. Don't de-orbit the Sattelite.. use the recovery coupler and attach a pusher motor to place Hubble in a Higher, stable orbit.

Maxxofor

@Maxxofor: Why spend a considerable amount of money to bring back something you're not going to use anymore? Makes more sense to put as much money as possible towards a new BETTER instrument to take its place.

logikgr

if we can point hubble to look at shit that far away how bout pointing it at a planet or something

or is that similar to using a telescope as a microscope? it dont work like dat

LocustWhored

@logikgr: There are probably millions of dollars worth of reusable parts in the telescope. Including, but not limited to, the Optics, the Solar Panels, etc.

Overheal

@Purple Dave: Thanks for that.

badhatharry

@Overheal:
It's all worthless unless you make a conscious choice to turn a repair mission into a retrieval mission. They'll be bringing back one (actually, 112, by my count) part of the Hubble telescope that could be put on display afterwards, but consider that any retrieval mission you might launch would necessarily bring up the question of why you didn't just turn it into a full-out repair mission and keep the thing working (where a future deorbiting mission could potentially be accomplished with an unmanned mission, and certainly wouldn't require the workhorse capabilities of a Space Shuttle mission). Would you rather have a shot at ten more years of Hubble images getting spread all over the internet, or a big honking museum display piece that only a handful of people will be able to enjoy? Keep in mind that the next space telescope will be infrared-only, while the Hubble will soon be able to handle infrared through ultraviolet. And you're assuming that the Space Shuttle is even capable of making a safe touchdown with that much dead weight in the payload bay. They're hauling 10.5 _tons_ of material up there, a fair chunk of which will be added weight on what's already a 12 ton beast (some dead/dying components will be removed and either deorbited, or returned to Earth in the payload bay). And they do already have the second Hubble optical mirror on display (the backup copy of the original mirror that wasn't designed correctly).

@badhatharry:
Yeah, I was kinda freaked out about the idea of removing and _reinserting_ all of those screws...in space. But that was a cool little video to catch. Unfortunately, I have no clue where to find it now, but I did track down this page, which explains the process in more detail. What it doesn't include, which the video did, is that this is probably the most dangerous part of the mission, as they'll be accessing electronic guts that weren't designed to be spacesuit-safe, so there's a real possibility that the astronaut's suit could get torn on a sharp corner or something. There's also the possibility that a screwhead could be stripped, rendering the entire panel unremovable.

Purple Dave

the FSCKING video in 4 separate parts, you wankers?

theotherstevejobs

of good science that gets done. What i want to know is why i had to watch

theotherstevejobs

a great mission and i hope that there's a lot

theotherstevejobs

this is going to be

theotherstevejobs

The folks signing checks need to understand that we have to get the chops to do the stuff in space that's needed to move us up and out.

Those chops are going to be gotten doing stuff exactly like this.

My hopes are very high for this mission. Why?
Because it's a mission to keep doing science, to keep learning, to keep growing.

Not just some race to beat China to the moon. :/

strider_mt2k

You left out the riskiest part.

If the shuttle is damaged on launch and can't be repaired, there is no way to get to the space station.

Kodai1

But the Earth is only 6000 years old. Looking back that far shouldn't be that hard. Sheesh...

Paid for by the McCain-Palin '08 election committee.

Argelius

Our astronauts are truly the best and brightest this country has to offer. I talk them up to my students at every opportunity.

De-orbiting Hubble seems a crying shame. What a coup it would be to someday bring it back for display in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum!
Bad News: Such a recovery is decades down the road, if not a century.
Good news: Any device sent up to dock with and de-orbit Hubble could just as easily push it to a higher orbit that the telescope could stay in safely for a century, or longer.

DrJimmy

We shouldn't be so sure this is the last mission to the Hubble. Presidents change, NASA directors change and congress may find it important to keep this thing running because even though it's old it can still make very important discoveries.

Yes new better telescopes will be put into orbit but that does not make the Hubble obsolete in any way. It's better to have two orbiting telescopes than one. There are many scientists that have studies to perform on the Hubble so the waiting lists must be planned years out.

BiZarRroBALlmeR

@Kodai1:
They're going to have the Endeavour standing by on another launch pad, designated STS-400 (Atlantis launches as STS-125) to be used as a recovery vehicle for the crew in case there's a problem that's severe enough that they can't safely return in Atlantis.

@BiZarRroBALlmeR:
The Space Shuttle fleet is set to be retired in 2010, and without it another repair mission is highly unlikely. Of course, there's always the possibility that the Shuttle retirement might be delayed, should the next President feel it's worth keeping that program alive. Or he could ask for a replacement for the STS program to be initiated (which is what we really need).

Purple Dave

Good for NASA for applying some marketing to a shuttle mission. I love following space missions of all kinds, but NASA usually makes the most exciting missions seem dry, bland and routine.

Adding some excitement and effectively communicating the risks and difficulties before the mission is the best way to keep the public interested and prepare them for the inevitable problems that crop up. Too often NASA diminishes possible risks and the media then highlight how "NASA screwed up again".

Hopefully this is part of a new trend to sell their "product".

GenericWhiteGuy

@LocustWhored:
Actually, they have pointed the Hubble Telescope at planets in our solar system.
Here are some images:
[hubblesite.org]

wongtam

Judging from the trailer, cocky John Grunsfeld is going to go all rogue space cowboy after hours forcing no-nonsense Michael Altman to risk his life rescuing him, meanwhile former Italian pr0n star Michael Massimino (make up your mind, is it massive or mini?) will be getting it on with Megan McCarthur, but she'll kick his ass out of the space hammock to suit up with Gregory Johnson and together they will rescue the Hubble with seconds to spare.

Should be awesome science!

skierpage

@Ogiri W Surie: Er, I know you meant that tongue in cheek but they have bought a new one. ^.^ It just wont be ready till 2013. Which should be about the time Hubble needs to be on its way out if we're lucky with this next repair.

bbfreak

Killer videos. Very smart of NASA to drop a few grand on such a nice PR video to promote their expensive repair mission. No mention of lifting Hubble to a higher orbit? I'll have to Google it, but I thought that was the big issue.

joekewe

What NASA really needs to do to compete with sports is to have cheerleaders or roundcard girls, or at least some hot Barbarella style astronauts.

macrumpton

To see the video as one whole piece, go to:

[www.nasa.gov]

then select "The Last Mission to Hubble" from Featured Videos on the right of the page.

onyxmicro

Okay, that dude in the second video talking about ACS and STIS (or whatever they call them) -- that dude's office has the best window view ever!

Is is just me or does it seem like they're setting us up so we won't take it so hard when they fail? Regardless, I think this is extremely cool stuff and I wish them the best of luck with the tasks at hand!

FritzLaurel

@joekewe:
There's no mention of it in their objectives list or timeline. Maybe they aren't lifting it at all. Or maybe that's such a standard thing that they feel they don't need to mention it.

Purple Dave

1. Whoever put those video's together....TURN DOWN THE DAMN MUSIC!!!!!

2. It's nice to see they're fully geared toward FIXING what it up there instead of creating another piece of space junk and just launching up a new one.

JEmlay

LHC + HST = interesting times ahead:)

@Kodai1: they will send Endeavour in the case Atlantis gets into problems.

ypctx

I never realized Hubble was so big!

Margatron

seems pretty amazing!

and why did nasa make this huge gap between the shuttle's being retired and Orion being launched!

any1 know what the next-gen space telescope will be like? (if they are planning a 2nd one?)

tenio