Hubble Servicing Mission SM4
Status Report #1
With about 8 hours to go on the countdown for the STS125 Atlantis Shuttle launch of the HST SM4 mission, the ESA HST team (this comprises both ESA staff and the Astrium industry support; I will use this term in the future) has received the launch guest briefing. Both the Atlantis and Endeavour Shuttle are on their respective launch pads ready to go. The movable gantry of the Atlantis launch pad has been removed and the photo below shows a beautiful shuttle ready to launch today at 14:01 EDT.
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The Space Shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad ready for the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA |
The ESA HST team has started to adapt its sleeping times to the intended 24 hours shift work, with 12 hours shift handover at 03:30 hrs in the night. This will provide engineering support for both the "orbit shift" (when the EVA tasks will be executed) and the "planning shift" (during the astronaut sleeping times).
Prepared by Michael Eiden, 11 May 2009
Editor's note: The ESA HST team provides engineering support for the ESA hardware on the HST: the two Solar Array Drive Mechanisms (SADM), the Solar Array Drive Electronics (SADE), and the Drive Control Electronics (DCE).
The team comprises Michael Eiden (ESA HST Project Manager) and Lothar Gerlach from the technical directorate at ESA, and Udo Rapp and Manfred Schmid from EADS Astrium.