STS-109

Flight Crew

ALTMAN, Scott Douglas, 42, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-90 (1998); STS-106 (2000)

CAREY, Duane Gene, 44, USAF, pilot

GRUNSFELD, John Mace, 43, civilian, mission specialist 1, payload commander, 4th mission

Previous missions: STS-67 (1995); STS-81 (1997); STS-103 (1999)

CURRIE, Nancy Jane, 43, US Army, mission specialist 2, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-57 (1993); STS-70 (1995); STS-88 (1998) LINNEHAN, Richard Michael, 44, civilian, mission specialist 3, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-78 (1996); STS-90 (1998)

NEWMAN, James Hansen, 45, civilian, mission specialist 4, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-51 (1993); STS-69 (1995); STS-88 (1998) MASSIMINO, Michael James, 39, civilian, mission specialist 5

Flight Log

The scheduled launch on 28 February was postponed 24 hours before tanking operations commenced when adverse weather conditions threatened launch criteria. Waiting 24 hours also gave the launch team the option of back-to-back launch opportunities, but they did not need them as launch occurred without delay on 1 March. Following the launch, controllers noted a degradation of the flow rate in one of two freon coolant loops which help dissipate heat from the orbiter. After a management review, the mission was given a “go” for its full duration. The problem had no impact on the crew’s activities and the vehicle de-orbited nominally.

Hubble was grappled and secured in the payload bay by the RMS on 2 March (FD 2). A series of five EVAs were completed by the crew, working in pairs. Grunsfeld (EV1) and Linnehan (EV2) completed EVAs 1, 3 and 5, while Newman (EV3) and Massimino (EV4) completed EVAs 2 and 4. When not performing an EVA, the resting

team also acted as IV crew for those who were outside, and serviced, cleaned and prepared their own equipment ready for their next excursion. Each EVA was supported by Nancy Currie operating the RMS, with Altman and Carey photo – documenting the activities.

During the first EVA (4 Mar for 7 hours 1 minute), the astronauts removed the older starboard solar array from the telescope (attached during STS-61 in December 1993) and installed a new third-generation array. The old (retracted) array was then stowed in Columbia’s payload bay for return to Earth for analysis of its condition after nine years in space. During EVA 2 (5 Mar for 7 hours 16 minutes), the new port array was installed, together with a new Reaction Wheel Assembly after the removal of the older array. The astronauts also installed thermal blankets on Bay 6, door stop extensions on Bay 5 and foot restraints to assist with the next EVA. EVA 2 also included a test of bolts located on the aft shroud doors. The lower two bolts were found to need replacing, which they accomplished successfully. EVA 3 (6 Mar for 6 hours 48 minutes) was delayed by a fault in Grunsfeld’s suit, but after changing the HUT, they continued with the EVA programme. This included replacing the Power Control Unit (PCU) with a new unit capable of handling 20 per cent of power output generated from the new arrays. The extracted PCU was the original launched on the telescope in 1990, and this operation required the telescope to be powered down. This was the first time since its launch that Hubble had been turned off. The astronauts removed all 36 connectors to the old PCU and stowed it in the payload bay before attaching the new unit within 90 minutes. One hour later, the new unit passed its tests and Hubble came back to life. EVA 4 (7 Mar for 7 hours 18 minutes) completed the first science instrument upgrade of the mission by removing the last original instrument on the telescope, the Faint Object Camera, and installing the Advanced Camera for Surveys. They also installed the first element of an environmental cooling system, called the Electronics Support Module (ESM). The rest of the system would be installed the following day. The final EVA (8 Mar for 7 hours 32 minutes) saw the installation of the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) in the aft shroud and the connection of cables to the ESM. They also installed the Cooling System Radiator on the outside of Hubble and fed radiator wires through the bottom of the telescope to connections on NICMOS.

Hubble was released by the RMS on 9 March (FD 9) and the next day was a rest day for the astronauts. During the day, they took the opportunity to speak with the ISS-4 crew (Yuri Onufriyenko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch). FD 11 saw a full systems check before landing at the first opportunity at the Cape on FD 12, rounding out a highly successful mission. At this time, there was a further Hubble service mission on the manifest (HST SM #4) in 2004 or 2005, with a close-out mission in 2010. The options of either bringing the telescope back to Earth for eventual display in a museum or leaving it in orbit, boosted to a higher apogee to reduce atmospheric drag, were still being considered when Columbia was lost in February 2003. It looked as though Hubble was likely be abandoned when its systems eventually failed, but there was also growing support both inside and outside of NASA to devote one Shuttle mission to revisit the telescope before the Shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. In

October 2006, a return to Hubble was authorised for 2008 due to public and scientific demand for keeping the telescope working for as long as possible.

Milestones

230th manned space flight

138th US manned space flight

108th Shuttle mission

27th flight of Columbia

52nd US and 85th flight with EVA operations

4th Hubble service mission (3B)

EVA duration record for single Shuttle mission (35hrs 55 min)