Hubble Space Telescope

The payload canister with the Hubble Space Telescope equipment arrives at the base of Launch Pad 39A where space shuttle Atlantis stands.

STS-125: Mission to Service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Veteran astronaut Scott Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day mission's five spacewalks, astronauts will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and perform the component replacements that will keep the telescope functioning into at least 2014. In addition to the originally scheduled work, Atlantis also will carry a replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit for Hubble. Astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, removing the one that stopped working on Sept. 27, 2008, delaying the servicing mission until the replacement was ready. TheTamshee says: click the title link to read Nasa's history of this powerful orbiting telescope that provides sharper images of heavenly bodies than any other telescopes.