Astronauts try to bring device back from the dead
— -- Astronauts are attempting their second in-orbit repair of a dead science instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope in as many days.
On Sunday morning, Michael Massimino and Michael Good ventured out to attempt another in-orbit repair of a dead science instrument. The imaging spectrograph was hit by a power failure five years ago.
The spacewalkers will need steady hands for Sunday's work, which includes removing 117 tiny screws. The instruments were not designed to be repaired in orbit, so NASA developed dozens of new tools for the job.
This is the fourth spacewalk for shuttle Atlantis' crew. One more is scheduled before it's time to set Hubble free. No further repair missions are planned for the 19-year-old observatory, which is now better than ever.
The device makes a fingerprint of cosmic objects by separating light. It is good for finding black holes and examining the atmosphere of planets outside our solar system.
Saturday's walk was supposed to be one of the toughest spacewalks in history.
Instead, two astronauts nimbly polished off an unprecedented and tricky job on the outing into space: fixing a priceless Hubble Space Telescope camera that broke in 2007.
Astronaut John Grunsfeld said before his mission that repairing the camera, the Hubble's most valuable, would be a "nailbiter." But he pulled off the repair at a rapid-fire pace, without so much as a pause. He and spacewalking partner Andrew Feustel worked so quickly that they got an hour ahead of schedule.
During their spacewalk, Grunsfeld and Feustel also breezed through the installation of the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which will allow scientists to study the composition and structure of the universe.
"Nice work, guys. Congratulations," said the spacewalkers' commander, Scott Altman, as they wrapped up their work.
Grunsfeld, Feustel, Altman and four other astronauts blasted into space on space shuttle Atlantis Monday to pay the fifth and final call on the Hubble. Because they'll be the Hubble's last visitors, it's up to them to leave the telescope in good enough shape to last another five to 10 years.
