First Hubble Flight
Hardware Arrives At Kennedy For STS-125
(16 July 2008) The first major flight
hardware for the fifth and final space shuttle servicing mission to NASA's
Hubble Space Telescope is starting to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.,
to begin preparations for its targeted October launch.
Three
carriers, which are pallets that will hold equipment in space shuttle Atlantis'
payload bay, were delivered to Kennedy Wednesday. They will be prepared for the
integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external
replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by
the astronauts during Atlantis' mission, designated STS-125 and SM4.
The
three payload carriers are the Flight Support System (FSS), the Super
Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier (SLIC), and the Orbital Replacement Unit
Carrier (ORUC). At the end of July, a fourth and final carrier, the Multi-Use
Lightweight Equipment (MULE) carrier, will join the others in the Payload
Hazardous Servicing Facility where the Hubble payload is being prepared for
launch.
The Flight Support System will attach, secure and provide power
to Hubble and also contains the Soft Capture Mechanism that will assist in the
de-orbiting of the telescope when its science mission is over. Among the
components to be integrated onto the carriers are the Wide Field Camera 3 that
will be placed on the SLIC with Hubble's two new battery modules. The Fine
Guidance Sensor and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph will be on the ORUC, as
well as the replacement gyros. The Relative Navigation Sensors and the New
Outer Blanket Layers will be on the MULE. These components, which will be
integrated onto the carriers, will be delivered to Kennedy during the first
half of August.
Numerous crew aids and tools that the astronauts will
use during their five planned spacewalks also will be integrated onto the
carriers. The new hardware will ensure Hubble is at the apex of its scientific
capability and that it functions efficiently for a minimum of five more
years.
The processing and integration of the Hubble flight hardware will
take approximately two months. The payload is scheduled to go to Launch Pad 39A
in mid-September to be installed into Atlantis' payload bay.
Atlantis is
targeted to launch Oct. 8 at 1:34 a.m. EDT.
(source: NASA)
