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| HST Servicing Mission 4 | |
|---|---|
| Name | HST Servicing Mission 4 |
| Caption | Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-125 |
| Date | May 11–24, 2009 |
| Mission type | Spaceflight servicing |
| Operator | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) |
| Launch site | Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A |
| Landing site | Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility |
HST Servicing Mission 4
HST Servicing Mission 4 was the fifth and final planned crewed maintenance visit to the Hubble Space Telescope undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration using the Space Shuttle fleet. The mission refurbished, repaired, and upgraded key instruments and systems to extend Hubble Space Telescope operations into the 2010s, enabling continued contributions to projects such as studies by the European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute, and global astrophysical collaborations. The flight operated from Kennedy Space Center aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis during the Barack Obama presidential administration and followed earlier servicing missions that included work in the eras of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton administrations.
Servicing visits to the Hubble Space Telescope originated after deployment by Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-31 and were shaped by events including the grounding of the Shuttle fleet after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and policy decisions by NASA and the United States Congress. Objectives for this final mission included installing upgraded scientific payloads from teams led by institutions such as the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Ball Aerospace, restoring failed hardware like the Wide Field Camera and returning damaged components for analysis at Johnson Space Center. The mission responded to scientific priorities from consortia including the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph communities, and addressed operational imperatives driven by program managers at Marshall Space Flight Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Planning combined engineering teams from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing with science oversight by the Space Telescope Science Institute and program management at NASA Headquarters. The seven-person crew included commanders and specialists previously assigned to Expedition flights and Shuttle missions; notable crew members comprised veterans of STS-125 training at Johnson Space Center and EVA rehearsals at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Flight assignments were coordinated with advisory bodies such as the National Research Council and congressional oversight from committees chaired by members of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.
Launch took place from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on May 11, 2009, after weather and technical scrubs involving teams from United States Air Force weather services and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station operations. Orbital maneuvering used the Orbital Maneuvering System and rendezvous planning employed procedures originally developed for earlier missions such as STS-31 and refined after the Columbia accident, incorporating inspection protocols from Shuttle Tile Inspection campaigns and contingency planning with International Space Station operations. Atlantis performed stationkeeping and grapple operations using the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System to capture the Hubble Space Telescope and berth it in the payload bay for servicing.
Over five planned extravehicular activities, crew members executed complex repairs and replacements under procedures practiced at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and validated in simulations with assistance from contractors like IHI Corporation and Tethers Unlimited. EVAs included replacement of reaction wheels, installation of new instruments, retrieval of science packages, and repair of delicate systems such as thermal insulation and electronics boxes developed by Ball Aerospace and Raytheon. The astronauts used specialized tools developed by NASA Goddard and mission support from European Space Agency partners to perform tasks that restored critical functions and mitigated degradation observed in telemetry from Space Telescope Science Institute operations.
Key upgrades installed included the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph supplied by a team led by Johns Hopkins University and the Wide Field Camera 3 developed by Space Telescope Science Institute and Ball Aerospace. The crew repaired or replaced the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph electronics, renewed battery and gyroscope assemblies manufactured under contract with Honeywell International, and installed new thermal blankets and brackets supplied by Goodrich Corporation. The mission also removed failed components for return to Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson Space Center laboratories for post-flight analysis by teams from Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mission operations encountered anomalies typical of complex servicing flights, including concerns about contamination control monitored by the Environmental Control and Life Support System teams and an inspection finding related to a circuit path that required on-orbit troubleshooting by Mission Control Center engineers at Johnson Space Center. Orbital debris avoidance coordination involved assets from the United States Space Surveillance Network and notified stakeholders including European Space Agency tracking nodes. Post-mission assessments were conducted by panels convened by NASA and external reviewers from the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate risk reduction and lessons learned for future observatory maintenance planning.
The mission extended the Hubble Space Telescope's operational lifetime, enabling major programs such as deep-field imaging by teams at Space Telescope Science Institute, spectroscopic surveys by investigators at European Southern Observatory and Max Planck Society, and follow-up studies for missions like Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. The hardware and software upgrades supported discoveries in cosmology pursued by researchers at Harvard University, Princeton University, and University of California, Berkeley and informed technology development for successors including the James Webb Space Telescope and concepts studied at NASA Ames Research Center. Operationally, the mission influenced policy debates in the United States Congress and programmatic planning at NASA Headquarters about robotic versus crewed servicing, contributing to sustained investment in space science infrastructure.
Category:Space Shuttle missions Category:Hubble Space Telescope