Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Similar to Previous Servicing Flights

**Rick** · 06-15-2008

The 11-day mission will allow the crew to use the now-familiar Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) on the second day of the flight to conduct comprehensive inspections of the shuttle’s thermal heat shield en route to the telescope. The boom will be used again to survey the reinforced carbon-carbon protection on the leading edges of the shuttle’s wings and other areas of its heat shield on flight day 9 after the crew releases Hubble. It will be used a final time on flight day 10 for a late inspection to ensure that the shuttle heat shield has not been damaged by micrometeoroid particles.

The cameras on the shuttle’s robotic arm will be used on flight day 3 after Hubble is grappled and berthed in the payload bay during an additional inspection opportunity.

The final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope will resemble the previous shuttle servicing flights to the telescope: STS-61 in 1993, STS-82 in 1997, STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 in 2002. A day-by-day sketch of what the mission will likely entail includes:

Flight Day 1:
• Launch and checkout of the shuttle robotic arm.

Flight Day 2:
• Robotic arm grapple of the OBSS and thermal shield inspection
• Spacesuit, airlock and rendezvous tool checkouts
• Rendezvous maneuvers
• Flight Support System checkout

Flight Day 3:
• Rendezvous and grapple of HST
• Berthing of HST onto the Flight Support System
• Shuttle robotic arm survey of shuttle’s thermal protection system
• EVA 1 preparations

Flight Day 4:
• EVA 1
• EVA 2 preparations

Flight Day 5:
• EVA 2
• EVA 3 preparations

Flight Day 6:
• EVA 3
• EVA 4 preparations

Flight Day 7:
• EVA 4
• EVA 5 preparations

Flight Day 8:
• EVA 5
• Reboost
• Shuttle robotic arm grapple of HST

Flight Day 9:
• HST release
• OBSS grapple and unberth for late inspection of shuttle’s starboard thermal shield and nosecap

Flight Day 10:
• Additional late inspection with OBSS of port thermal shield
• Berthing of OBSS
• Off duty time for the crew

Flight Day 11:
• Flight Control System checkout
• Reaction Control System hot-fire test
• Cabin Stowage
• Off duty time for the crew

Flight Day 12:
• Deorbit Preparations
• Payload Bay Door Closing
• Deorbit Burn
• KSC Landing

Veteran astronaut Scott D. Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to Hubble. Navy Reserve Capt. Gregory C. Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists include veteran spacewalkers John M. Grunsfeld and Michael J. Massimino and first-time space fliers Andrew J. Feustel, Michael T. Good and K. Megan McArthur.

The destination is familiar territory to three of the crew: Altman will be making his second trip to Hubble; Grunsfeld will be making his third trip to service the telescope; and Massimino will be making his second trip to Hubble. Grunsfeld, Massimino, Feustel and Good will conduct the spacewalks during this mission. McArthur will operate the robotic arm.

Image above: Astronaut John Grunsfeld waves at a crewmate during the STS-109 mission's third spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA

Five spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs), will be conducted on consecutive days during the flight as the spacewalkers pair off into two teams. One team will conduct the first, third and fifth spacewalks, while the other team conducts the second and fourth spacewalks. The spacewalks will vary in length, but they generally will be around seven hours each.

The space shuttle will be launched into an orbit inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator on a trajectory that will enable it to rendezvous with Hubble some 340 statute miles above the Earth 43 hours after launch.

The shuttle’s cargo bay will be equipped with several pallets to hold the variety of equipment launched to service the telescope:

• The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier (SLIC) will house the new Wide Field Camera 3 and the two battery modules for the telescope.
• The Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier (ORUC) will contain the refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor, the three Rate Sensor Units and its gyroscopes and the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
• The Flight Support System (FSS) is the berthing platform upon which Hubble will be locked for its five days of servicing.
• The Multi-use Logistic Equipment Carrier (MULE) will be home for a number of components and spare parts for the telescope, as well as extra cans of lithium hydroxide (LiOH) that would be utilized to help cleanse carbon dioxide from the shuttle’s cabin atmosphere if the mission were to be extended for any length of time.

Following a series of jet firings to fine-tune the shuttle’s path to Hubble, it will approach the telescope from below as Altman and Johnson slowly approach the 43.5-foot long observatory. Controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center will have sent commands to close the aperture door at the forward end of the telescope, through which starlight enters for Hubble’s observations, to protect its mirrors. They also will have positioned its solar arrays to prevent any inadvertent contamination by exhaust from shuttle jet firings.

Closing to within about 30 feet of Hubble, McArthur will extend the shuttle’s robotic arm and use it to lock onto a grapple fixture on the telescope. Once captured, she will use the arm to lower Hubble to a berthing platform in the rear of the payload bay where it will be locked in place for five days of work.

The five spacewalks to upgrade and enhance Hubble’s capabilities will be staged from an external airlock in the shuttle’s payload bay located behind the aft bulkhead of the crew cabin.

Once the telescope has been repaired and upgraded through the five spacewalks, it will be regrappled by McArthur using the robotic arm. It then will be oriented for its release and the start of a verification and checkout period for its new and upgraded instruments and systems.

After Hubble is set free, Altman will fire jets to slowly move the space shuttle away from the telescope. The crew will use video and still cameras to document the telescope as they depart the vicinity.