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The fifth and final mission
to the iconic Hubble Space Telescope

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was a long time coming.

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After a delay in the fall of
2008, spring brought new hope.

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And, on 11th May, the 7
Space Shuttle crew members

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headed for the mission of a lifetime.

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This is the Hubblecast.

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News and images from the
NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

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EPISODE 29
Mission Accomplished: Healing Hubble.

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At 19 years old, Hubble is 'the'
veteran of space telescopes.

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Opening our eyes to the
Universe that hosts us,

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Hubble has looked far and deep

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to reveal fundamental scientific truths.

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Hubble isn't without its battle scars

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but the latest servicing mission
has left it more capable than ever.

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Astronauts had just five spacewalks

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to complete the Herculean
tasks set before them:

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the installation of two
completely new instruments

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and the repair of two others.

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And not to mention hundreds of
smaller, but still vital, tasks.

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These kind of 'space
mechanics' was never intended

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and likely never even dreamed of
by Hubble's creators in the 1970s.

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A dedicated team of ESA
engineers headed to the U.S.

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to support the mission by ensuring
the solar arrays' drive electronics

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and mechanisms were
functioning properly.

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The very lifeblood of Hubble, the
panels, must be monitored constantly

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so that astronauts can do
the work that they need to do

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while avoiding damage
to the panels themselves.

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But before anyone could
support the mission,

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it first had to get off the ground.

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A bright, clear and powerfully
hot morning with very few clouds

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looked promising for
an on-time departure.

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Invited guests, scientists
and engineers and the press

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gathered across Kennedy Space Center

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to watch Space Shuttle Atlantis rise
with the hope of rejuvenating Hubble.

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At 20:01 on May 11, Atlantis
roared off the launch pad

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and into the sky on its way
to its historic rendezvous.

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After Atlantis was safely in the air

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and all that was left
was its trail of smoke,

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the ESA Hubble Space
Telescope team moved north

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to NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Maryland,

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were engineers there man the STOCC,

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the Space Telescope
Operations Control Center.

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There, the ESA team worked
closely with the Goddard team

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to ensure both the safety
of space-walking astronauts

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and the solar panels.

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Astronauts put in over 36 hours of
space walks during the 13-day mission.

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The workhorse WFPC2 camera was replaced

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by its more powerful descendant,
the WFC3, or Wide Field Camera 3.

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WFC3 will greatly enhance the
observational capabilities of Hubble,

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providing enhanced field of
view and broader waveband.

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Removing a refrigerator-sized
instrument is no small task.

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Astronauts John Grunsfeld
and Andrew Feustel

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removed Hubble's COSTAR package
that was no longer needed

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to make way for the new Cosmic
Origin Spectrograph, COS.

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COS will study the large-scale
structure of the Universe

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and the formation and evolution
of galaxies, stars and planets.

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It will also help determine
the formation of elements

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considered essential for
life, such as carbon and iron.

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Astronauts didn't just
perform transplant surgery.

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They also did corrective operations

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on two existing instruments
with great success.

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The Space Telescope
Imaging Spectrograph, STIS

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that combines a camera
with a spectrograph

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and covers a wide range of wavelengths

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from the near infrared
region into the ultraviolet

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was affected
by a power failure.

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Astronauts had a particularly
difficult time repairing STIS

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due to a stubborn bolt on
the instrument's handrail.

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But after Houston gave
astronaut Mike Massimino

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the go-ahead to use "brute force",

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he was able to break the
handrail and access STIS.

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The Advanced Camera for Surveys,
another of Hubble's workhorse instrument,

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was also down due to a power failure.

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The Servicing Mission 4
repair has brought it new life.

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As astronaut Megan McArthur released
Hubble from the Shuttle's grip

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and the pilots carefully
manoeuvred away,

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it was a bittersweet
moment for the astronauts

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as well as the NASA and ESA
support personnel on the ground,

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the last time humans would visit the
telescope that has taught us so much

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about our origin and our
place in the vast Universe.

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Hubblecast is produced
by ESA / Hubble

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at the European
Southern Observatory in Germany.

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The Hubble mission is a project
of international cooperation

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between NASA and
the European Space Agency.

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Don't miss

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www.eso.org/esocast

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Now that you've caught up with Hubble

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make sure to get the
latest from the ground too.

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The ESOCast highlights the best of
the European Southern Observatory

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and its powerful telescopes that
observe from high in the Chilean Andes

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at the southern hemisphere's best known
sites for astronomical observations.