On this day 16 years ago, STS-125, the last servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope, took place. It is the reason Hubble is operating today and will continue to operate for years to come.
Could they do this today or the near future with something like SpaceX’s Starship? Or are those days gone with the Shuttles retirement?
DsianR on
This was also the final time two shuttles were on pads simultaneously. Atlantis flew the mission and Endeavour stood ready in case the Atlantis crew needed rescue. If Atlantis was damaged on ascent (as Columbia was years earlier), the crew would not have been able to retreat to the safety of the ISS. NASA prepped the second shuttle as a precaution.
Sadly Hubble is now nearing the end of its useful life.
Thanks to that last Shuttle servicing mission that replaced all 6 of its reaction wheels, Hubble was able to last all the way to today, but during that time 4 of those reaction wheels wore out.
When the 2 remaining reaction wheels wear out, Hubble will lose its ability to point itself precisely at a celestial object for observation, and the telescope will no longer be usable.
Hubble is now running on a 1-reaction-wheel mode which takes longer to maneuver itself to point at something for observation, but this will make the two remaining reaction wheels last as long as possible.
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Could they do this today or the near future with something like SpaceX’s Starship? Or are those days gone with the Shuttles retirement?
This was also the final time two shuttles were on pads simultaneously. Atlantis flew the mission and Endeavour stood ready in case the Atlantis crew needed rescue. If Atlantis was damaged on ascent (as Columbia was years earlier), the crew would not have been able to retreat to the safety of the ISS. NASA prepped the second shuttle as a precaution.
[https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FBSgkWkBwRL2-VR_2pjV4kj8reab7Ca6EQXjFH6N6oCE.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D9d44407f2071d30e0da0c507bad7d4d8c89754c0](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FBSgkWkBwRL2-VR_2pjV4kj8reab7Ca6EQXjFH6N6oCE.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D9d44407f2071d30e0da0c507bad7d4d8c89754c0)
Sadly Hubble is now nearing the end of its useful life.
Thanks to that last Shuttle servicing mission that replaced all 6 of its reaction wheels, Hubble was able to last all the way to today, but during that time 4 of those reaction wheels wore out.
When the 2 remaining reaction wheels wear out, Hubble will lose its ability to point itself precisely at a celestial object for observation, and the telescope will no longer be usable.
Hubble is now running on a 1-reaction-wheel mode which takes longer to maneuver itself to point at something for observation, but this will make the two remaining reaction wheels last as long as possible.
What a wonderful run Hubble has had.