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May
11, 2009: Space shuttle Atlantis with its seven-member
crew launched at 2:01 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 11, from NASA's
Kennedy Space Center on the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing
mission.
Atlantis'
11-day mission will include five spacewalks to refurbish Hubble
with state-of-the-art science instruments designed to improve
the telescope's discovery capabilities by up to 70 times while
extending its lifetime through at least 2014.
Shortly
before liftoff, Commander Scott Altman thanked the teams that
helped make the launch possible. "At last our launch
has come along," said Altman. "...Getting to this
point has been challenging, but the whole team, everyone,
has pulled together to take us into space."
Above: Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off Launch
Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning
the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Photo credit: NASA Television
Altman
is joined on STS-125 by Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission
Specialists Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino,
Andrew Feustel and Michael Good. McArthur will serve as the
flight engineer and lead for robotic arm operations while
the remaining mission specialists pair up for the hands-on
spacewalk work after Hubble is captured and secured in the
payload bay. Altman, Grunsfeld and Massimino are space shuttle
and Hubble mission veterans. Johnson, Feustel and Good are
first-time space fliers.
The STS-125 mission is the 126th shuttle flight, the 30th for
Atlantis and the second of five planned in 2009. Hubble was
delivered to space on April 24, 1990, on an earlier mission:
STS-31. STS-125 is referred to as Servicing Mission 4, although
it is technically the fifth servicing flight to the telescope.
"Hubble
has a long history of providing outstanding science and beautiful
pictures," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "If the servicing
mission is successful, it will give us a telescope that will
continue to astound both scientists and the public for many
years to come."
Among Hubble's greatest discoveries is the age of the universe
(13.7 billion years); the finding that virtually all major
galaxies have black holes at their center; the discovery that
the process of planetary formation is relatively common; the
first ever organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet
orbiting another star; and evidence that the expansion of
the universe is accelerating -- caused by an unknown force
that makes up approximately 72 percent of the matter-energy
content of the universe.
NASA is providing continuous television and Internet coverage
of Atlantis' mission. Visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
or http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
for full coverage.
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Editor: Dr.
Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
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