Repair Mission

Once considered a screw-up of cosmic proportions, the Hubble Space Telescope has turned into the comeback kid of astronomy in the year since wrench-wielding astronauts fixed its blurred vision."

The astronauts who polished up NASA's tarnished image last month with a nearly flawless repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope say they owe much of their success to the extraordinary training that went into the high-profile mission.But in their first news conference since the flight ended Dec. 13, they cautioned yesterday that future shuttle missions won't all get the same kind of support from the space agency's money managers.The mission commander, Air Force Col. Richard O. Covey, credited "good people, good equipment and good fortune" for his crew's success.

With proof in hand of a successful Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, NASA has shown that it can still be the "can-do" agency that put men on the moon and sent probes to the farthest planets. Last week's "first light" tests through the refurbished instrument returned razor-sharp pictures that met or exceeded scientists' most sanguine predictions for clarity and resolution.The planning and execution of the complex mission is already being ranked as one of the space age's most spectacular successes to date.

William G. Fastie, a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University, was one of 10 scientists selected by competition in 1977 to serve in a group that advised the National Aeronautics and Space Administration up to and after the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in the spring of 1990.He was one of two telescope scientists in the Science Working Group. He was the one given the responsibility to ensure that the company contracted to make the telescope's mirrors, Perkin-Elmer, did it right.It didn't.

With the completion of the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission yesterday, NASA has done more than just fix the orbiting telescope's blurry vision. It has shown a skeptical public it still knows how to get things done, and its apparent success should restore some luster to the space agency's tarnished image.The minutely choreographed telescope repair schedule, which involved 11 separate operations and a record-breaking five spacewalks by two teams of astronauts, was the most complex space repair mission ever undertaken by NASA.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- With its long-awaited mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope just 10 weeks away, NASA is not sure the replacement parts are ready to fly.Two dozen optics experts gathered yesterday at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to determine whether discrepancies in previous tests were the fault of the test equipment or the two replacement instruments, which have already been shipped to Kennedy Space Center for launch aboard a...

At first, the most costly and audacious telescope ever built just seemed a bit out of focus.But no matter how handlers of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope tweaked its mirrors by remote control, they could not sharpen the smeary stars on their video screens.In June 1990, stunned scientists were forced to admit that their $1.5 billion telescope's 94-inch primary mirror had been ground too flat. A repair mission scheduled for 1993 would be the first chance for astronauts to attempt to fix the problem.

Perkins-Elmer, the Hughes Aircraft Co. subsidiary that manufactured the nearsighted Hubble Space Telescope mirror, has agreed to pay the government part of the cost of repairing the faulty spacecraft. The Justice Department has reached a $25 million settlement that a NASA official called "fair and reasonable."That judgment may be premature. It will cost the government about $150 million to fix the Hubble telescope now that it's already in orbit, a figure that doesn't even include the cost of the shuttle repair mission itself or any unforeseen problems.

Crew members and NASA scientists say they are "pumped up" for a mission next month that will take the shuttle Endeavour to the limits of its fuel supply and challenge four spacewalkers to complete the longest and most complex chores ever attempted in orbit.Seven astronauts will blast off Dec. 1 on an 11-day mission to correct a mirror flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope and install equipment to ensure its survival into the next century.The work will require 30 hours of spacewalks by four astronauts who have spent more than 400 hours rehearsing the mission in water tanks.

Riccardo Giacconi, a 61-year-old pioneer in X-ray astronomy, has shepherded the Baltimore institute that directs research with the Hubble Space Telescope through frustrating launch delays, the discovery of embarrassing technical flaws and finally, some headline-making discoveries.By the end of this month, he will leave the Space Telescope Science Institute to become director-general of the European Southern Observatory, a multinational group building the Very Large Telescope Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Seven astronauts are stranded in orbit after their shuttle is damaged during launch. Unable to repair the ship, they hunker down with dwindling supplies while four more astronauts board a second spacecraft and blast off on a daring rescue mission. NASA executives would like to keep this scenario in the realm of science fiction. But they're preparing for it just the same on the slim chance the shuttle Atlantis is crippled during the May 11 repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. A second shuttle - Endeavour - is poised for liftoff from Cape Canaveral if there's a call for help from Atlantis.

NASA has delayed plans to launch a repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope next month because a science data computer stopped working over the weekend, officials said yesterday. The mission, planned for launch Oct. 14, will not launch before mid-February, a delay that will cost the Hubble program at least $10 million a month, according to NASA officials. In the meantime, the telescope is unable to transmit any scientific data to the ground. Engineers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt are working this week to transfer the work of Hubble's malfunctioning science data downlink computer to a backup system so they can resume science operations within a few weeks.

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin's decision yesterday to approve a repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope has the potential to expand and extend the observatory's reach into the universe. But that's not the only reason to applaud. It's a nod toward the importance of generating science and advancing projects with that aim, especially when traveling to Mars has become the latest fascination in Washington. Hubble may have popularized astronomy with its stunning array of images from space.

The future of the Hubble Space Telescope hangs in the balance today in Washington as top NASA managers weigh the feasibility and risks of sending shuttle astronauts on a fifth and final servicing mission to the observatory. Michael Griffin, the agency administrator, is scheduled to announce Tuesday at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt whether he'll order the mission. "There is talk about very little else at the moment. Everybody wants to know what's happening," said Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which manages Hubble science.

WASHINGTON -- NASA got what it wanted - and more - yesterday when the Senate approved a $16.5 billion annual spending plan for the space agency in an otherwise very tight budget year. The money will pay for the start-up of NASA's new moon-Mars venture, more space shuttle flights, a repair mission to the Hubble telescope and other programs. The spending plan for 2006, which passed 94-5, is a slight increase over the current budget. But the agency is looking at an expensive transition in the next few years as it tries to balance the cost of ending its shuttle program and International Space Station construction with the planned voyages to the moon and Mars.

THE REASON for NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe's refusal to send astronauts into space to retrofit the Hubble Space Telescope can be summed up in two words: too risky. But a new report by a panel of experts has undercut his argument, finding that a manned repair mission is only slightly more risky than planned flights to the International Space Station. The panel also raised significant doubts that an unmanned robotics mission could do the job. Fixing Hubble so it can continue to inform and enhance our knowledge of stars, planets and deep space is the objective here, and Mr. O'Keefe should put his money on astronauts, not machines.

Scientists who want a robotic repairman to fly to the rescue of the Hubble Space Telescope shrugged off news yesterday that a confidential study done for NASA last summer called a robot mission one of the most difficult and risky options for saving the observatory. The director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore said NASA knew about the study Aug. 9, when NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe told cheering scientists and engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center to push ahead with the design of a robotic repair mission.

HUBBLE SPACE Telescope fans, enjoy those glorious pictures from the great beyond while you can. The photos shared with the public last week were beauties -- a kaleidoscope of competing galaxies and nascent stars. U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland is valiantly trying to extend the Hubble's working life, despite a NASA decision to the contrary. And we can't help but cheer her on. Ms. Mikulski is waging an uphill fight, notwithstanding Hubble's stellar scientific contributions, popularity worldwide and continued slam-dunk performances.

IT HAS BEEN our eye on the universe, peering farther into space than had ever been done before. A billion times more! With its cameras clicking and spectrographs turning, the Hubble Space Telescope offers stargazers and scientists a view once only imagined. And what a razzle-dazzle, nerve-firing view - the largest volcano in the solar system, a roiling storm on Saturn, black holes, dying stars, galaxies in the making. This bus-sized telescope in the sky has popularized the science of astronomy in a palpable way for those of us who can't define spectroscopy.

Once considered a screw-up of cosmic proportions, the Hubble Space Telescope has turned into the comeback kid of astronomy in the year since wrench-wielding astronauts fixed its blurred vision."