Astronauts Ready To Say Goodbye To Hubble For Good

<EM>Associated Press - May 19, 2009 3:43 AM ET </EM>CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) - It&#39;s time for NASA to say goodbye to the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis Tuesday...

Tuesday, May 19th 2009, 6:32 am

By: News On 6


CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) - It's time for NASA to say goodbye to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis Tuesday morning will gently toss the 19-year-old observatory back into orbit. That's after five successful spacewalks to install two new scientific instruments, fix two broken ones, and do general maintenance.

NASA says the handyman mission not only fixed Hubble, but it should last five to 10 more years and unlock even more mysteries of the cosmos.

There will be no more repair missions to Hubble. Sometime after 2020, NASA will send a robotic spaceship to steer Hubble back into the atmosphere and a watery grave.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

May 19th, 2009

September 29th, 2024

September 17th, 2024

July 4th, 2024

Top Headlines

December 11th, 2024

December 11th, 2024

December 11th, 2024

December 11th, 2024