Atlantis Launches on Mission to Service Hubble Telescope (video)

The NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis took off this afternoon at 2:01 EDT, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission —STS-125— will be the last scheduled mission to service the 19-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, in an effort to extend its working life at least 5 more years into the future. It will entail at least 5 planned spacewalks to repair and upgrade the telescope’s equipment and power-sourcing.

When the Hubble program was first to be abandoned, it sparked a worldwide public outcry, and a movement to save the Hubble, which is responsible for a great number of major scientific discoveries made since it first began looking deep into the unknown remote universe. Its images of galaxies, star clusters, and the massive brilliant nebulae where new stars form, has allowed scientists to reconfigure the way we concieve of the shape and nature of our universe.

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According to NASA’s Shuttle Mission page:

Liftoff was right on time at 2:01 p.m. EDT following a countdown that proceeded relatively smoothly throughout the day. Late in the countdown, launch managers had to evaluate an unexpected ice formation on the liquid hydrogen umbilical, and a buildup of cumulus clouds threatened the favorable weather forecast. But those issues were quickly resolved, and in a post-launch press conference, NASA managers praised the launch team for its expertise and efficiency.

Space Shuttle Endeavor is already set for STS-126, situated on another launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, in case the crew of STS-125 somehow finds itself stranded or in distress. Atlantis was stocked with twice the normal 12-day supply of food, as the Hubble mission —at 350 miles altitude— will take the Atlantis 100 miles higher into orbit than the usual destination of the International Space Station.

Being 100 miles further out than the International Space Station, the astronauts would be stranded if there is any major systems failure on the shuttle, so Endeavor’s being readied, staffed and stationed, was instrumental to being able to allow the Atlantis launch to be conducted with confidence that potential emergency situations could be addressed should they arise.