ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 14, 1997 TAG: 9702140050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
IF THESE GUYS CHARGED from the time they left the shop, Hubble's maintenance cost would be out of sight.
Discovery's astronauts hauled the Hubble space telescope aboard the shuttle early Thursday for a 1-billion-mile tuneup that will allow it to peer even deeper into the far reaches of the universe.
Spacewalking astronauts planned to spend four straight nights beginning Thursday installing new scientific instruments and other up-to-date equipment in NASA's second Hubble service call since 1993.
Like repairmen on Earth, Discovery's seven-man crew kept the customer waiting. The shuttle pulled up a little late alongside the 12-ton, 43-foot observatory. Several more minutes passed before Steven Hawley, operating the shuttle's mechanical arm, latched onto the telescope as the two spacecraft soared 370 miles over Mexico's southwestern coast.
``Seeing that beautiful spacecraft for the first time in three years was like seeing your best friend whom you haven't seen for three years,'' NASA's chief Hubble scientist, Ed Weiler, said on Earth. ``Not only that, but the friend doesn't seem to have aged at all.''
The only sign of age was a gouge in a dish antenna, caused by a micrometeorite. The healthy Hubble was a welcome sight; a badly warped or wobbly telescope would have forced NASA to call off the spacewalks.
Weiler considered the first spacewalk, by Mark Lee and Steven Smith, to be the ``Super Bowl'' of the series. Their job: to replace 1970s scientific instruments with start-of-the-art devices.
``If that goes well, I think it will really put Hubble into a position of having world-class scientific capability well into the 21st century,'' Weiler said.
An astronomer by training, Hawley was perhaps the most reverent of the crew on seeing Hubble. He last glimpsed the telescope in 1990, when he used the mechanical arm on the same shuttle to launch it on its 15-year voyage. His touch was gentle and respectful.
``Gee, I wish you could see the expression on Dr. Stevie's face,'' Discovery commander Kenneth Bowersox told Mission Control. ``Looks like he just shook hands with an old friend.''
Scientists calculated that the capture came on orbit No.37,130 and that the telescope had logged 996 million miles and made more than 110,100 observations of stars, galaxies, planets and other astronomical objects.
Although this rendezvous was less urgent than the 1993 visit, when spacewalking astronauts had to install corrective lenses because of a defective mirror, it was no less nerve-racking for astronomers, fearful of an inadvertent bump that could ruin its vision again.
The $2 billion telescope has performed superbly since its full sight was restored, confirming the existence of super-massive black holes in several galaxies and bringing astronomers ever closer to determining the age of the universe.
Its vision will be even keener with the addition of the two $100 million-plus scientific instruments: a spectrograph with two-dimensional sensors, and a near-infrared camera. Each is the size of a telephone booth.
Other high-priority items to be hooked up before the telescope is turned loose next week include a refurbished guidance sensor and two data recorders. Altogether, 11 major parts are to be installed.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. The Hubble space telescope (top) is ready to beby CNBberthed in space shuttle Discovery's payload bay Thursday. color.
Chart by AP. color.