NASA Commences with Hubble Telescope Repairs
By: Jessica Bunke

Recently NASA announced to the public that they go ahead with a final shuttle mission for maintenance on the sixteen-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, with the goal of extending its possible usage until the year 2013.
The mission itself is potentially risky and according to NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin. The astronauts aboard will be unable to take shelter within the International Space Station should anything disastrous happen while they are working on the telescope.
Scientists were relieved when the announcement was made because the Hubble has changed our understanding of how the universe works. Since Hubbles launch, scientists have been able to observe the birth and death of stars, planets that lie beyond our solar system, and capture breathtaking photos of the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Once at the Hubble Telescope, astronauts will install new instruments that will allow scientists to look deeper into space. Depleted batteries and damaged gyroscopes will be replaced as well. The repairs and upgrades are expected keep to Hubble functional until at least 2013, when a second telescope, the James Webb Telescope, is launched. Without this final maintenance mission the Hubble Telescope would only last for another two to three years.
Previous missions to repair the telescope had been planned but were scrubbed in the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, which claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard the shuttle.  This time around, NASA will have a second shuttle ready to launch for a rescue mission if trouble arises for the crew repairing the Hubble.  It is uncertain, however, if such a rescue attempt would be successful.
The $900 million maintenance mission is scheduled to launch in 2008.  The flight will last eleven days, with astronauts making five space walks to work on the Hubble.  NASA says fourteen more shuttle flights will be sent up to finish the International Space Station before they retire the fleet in 2010.

