NASA will now be making its fifth trip to Hubble after the Columbia tragedy in 2003.The 11-day mission aboard the Atlantis has been preparing for this trip for the last two years. The liftoff is slated for Oct 10.The seven shuttle astronauts chosen to overhaul the Hubble space Shuttle have a full time task as the old power storage batteries have to be restored, new cameras installed and two failed instruments have to be activated. The observatory has been active for 18 years and done a lot of useful research and has helped to narrow down earths age to 13.7 billion years.
The commander of the shuttle Scott Altman said “I can tell you now we are ready to go,” I do feel the crew has come together. Everybody knows their job, and we are ready to go execute.” Space agencies have been worried about the risks the shuttle faces. These risks come from the debris, which flies in from the American Russian and Chinese satellites.
It is important to to take the additional risk and make this working as the shuttle has in the past been responsible for a lot of research and helped to track down planets, stars, and has probed the dark energies of the universe.
The astronauts are quoted as saying” that th eforces which spin the universe will reveal here. John Grunsfield says “There is a story to Hubble that has been unfolding over the last 20 years like a great novel. There are surprises, and we don’t know how it will end, With this mission, we are adding five to ten years to the story.”
