Hubble 3D: Deep Space Page #2

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...another one could come up

and rescue the stranded crew.

They could shimmy from one to

the other down the arm, fireman style.

We'll let them try it first.

We are going to add

a shuttle servicing mission...

...to the Hubble Space Telescope,

to the shuttle's manifest...

...to be flown before it retires.

The final mission is a go...

...and for the first time,

a second orbiter stands ready...

...in case there's a call for help.

Just weeks to launch,

the Hubble crew is training hard.

The spacewalkers practice

in this six million gallon pool...

...at the Johnson Space Center.

It's the closest they can get

to zero gravity.

Motion is stopped for the stanchion.

Okay.

Four stories underwater...

...there's an entire shuttle cargo bay

and a life-size model of Hubble.

A big thing about this telescope...

...is it can point really, really accurately...

...and hold its position, and

it's the gyros that allow you to do that.

But they're in a tough spot.

- Got them?

- I got your legs.

I'm gonna move in a little bit.

We'll stick Mass,

my spacewalking partner...

...up inside the telescope,

in the bowels of the science instruments.

We gotta be really careful around them.

And I'm a big goon

and I've gotta get inside of there.

So this is the problem, how to get me

inside of this really cramped place.

He's gotta work in there,

but he has to be perfectly still.

And he can only work with one hand...

...right there amongst

the fixed-head star trackers.

They don't like to be bumped.

And, you know...

...you knock them off their axes

and they're useless.

Then the whole telescope's useless.

Mike Massimino...

...otherwise known as Mass,

has serviced Hubble once before.

- Got it.

- Fun today?

John Grunsfeld, on the left,

is an astrophysicist and mountaineer.

He's had more visits to Hubble

than anyone else.

Boy, are we having fun this time?

This'll be the first trip to space

for Mike Good, known as Bueno.

He enjoys a slightly soggy hug

from his wife Joan.

Soon they'll be saying their goodbyes

to families and friends.

Shuttle arm operator Megan McArthur

describes the last hours before launch.

I always loved being by the ocean...

...surrounded by dunes and,

you know, seaside plants.

It's very calming for me,

down at Kennedy.

And it's just a nice place

to go kind of relax...

...and let your mind wander a little bit...

...and relieve you from the different cares

about getting ready to launch.

Launch day is finally here.

It's no secret

that space is a dangerous place.

In the last two decades, 32 astronauts

have put their own lives on the line...

...to give life to Hubble.

Each one of these men and women

is a true hero.

T-minus five minutes and counting.

Go for orbiter APU start.

PLT, perform APU start.

OTC, PLT and mark.

- SRO.

- SRO is go.

- You have a range clear to launch.

- And CDR.

CDR and entire crew is go.

Okay, Scooter.

Look, it's a great day to go fly.

On behalf of the KSC processing and launch

team I'd like to wish you, your crew...

...and the Hubble Space Telescope team

a great mission. Good luck, Godspeed.

We'll see you back here in about 11 days.

Enjoy the ride, pal.

Nozzle check

of the SRBs, firing chain is armed.

Sound suppression water system armed.

T-minus 10, nine...

...eight, seven...

...six, five...

...four, three...

...two, one.

And liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis!

Atlantis on its way,

all three engines now throttling down...

...as the vehicle passes through

the area of maximum dynamic pressure.

Atlantis, go at throttle up.

Houston, Atlantis copies. Go at throttle.

Approaching staging...

...the burnout

of the twin solid rocket boosters.

Thrust tailing off

and SRBs standing by for separation.

Separation confirmed.

Phenomenal first stage performance.

Atlantis is continuing

in its due easterly course...

...to catch up with the Hubble Space

Telescope one last time.

- Hey Ray J, welcome to orbit.

- It's great to be here, Doug.

- How was that ride?

- It was wild, basically.

I like this floating in space.

- You have something in here?

- My food is in my stomach.

- Best place to store food is your stomach.

- Mine was there temporarily.

- Now it's in my tummy.

- Well, hopefully it stays there.

You don't really shower.

You wet a washcloth with this.

This is our water-wetter thing.

It's kind of like a garden hose.

Let me show you how it works here.

All I can tell you about going to

the bathroom in space is suction.

- Hey, John.

- Hey, Drew.

- What's going on?

- Not too much, what you doing?

- Hanging around.

- What are you, a bat?

Nope, just a spacewalker.

Those tears on the shield shell were--

Day three.

Their first task is to capture Hubble.

The rendezvous is basically

us finding the telescope.

Now it's doing 17,500 miles an hour...

...so by the time we get right next to it...

...we're doing the same thing.

That's the tense part,

are we going the right speed?

To make things even harder...

...in orbit

the sun rises and sets every 90 minutes.

.03, I see you slowing down.

Till we can finally come up

right underneath the telescope...

...with it floating just inches away

from the aft window...

...so that Megan can reach out

with the arm and grapple it.

- Still 0.03 over the pin.

- Over the pin.

- Keep coming.

- Keep going.

- I see halfway down.

- Envelope out the window.

Trigger.

- Timer.

- We got it.

- Close and capture.

- I got close and capture.

Congratulations. Awesome job.

Houston, Atlantis,

Hubble has arrived on board Atlantis.

Atlantis, Houston,

we copy. Nice job, Megan...

...it's great to be back with the telescope.

Once we have the telescope

hovering over the latches...

...the idea is to just bring it

straight down...

...slow enough so that if we did

perhaps tap into the latches at all...

...that no damage would be done.

This last mission to repair it...

...will be the most challenging

and difficult of all.

These are our EVA,

that means spacewalking...

...tool caddies, called mini workstations.

They have our tethers on them so we

don't lose things. We can tether to stuff.

You always gotta have that on you.

You gotta have these on.

- Drew?

- Yeah.

This is your first spacewalk tomorrow.

What do you feel? What do you think?

- I'm excited. I'm getting excited.

- You're ready.

Seeing Hubble come into

the payload bay was pretty amazing.

The rendezvous was fun

and now we're ready to go.

I'm looking forward to putting in

the Wide Field Camera.

- What's Wide Field gonna do?

- Unlock the secrets to the universe.

- That's right.

- Unlock more secrets of the universe.

- That's right.

- Right.

Getting dressed the day of a spacewalk,

you know, it's very hard...

...just like a little kid

going out in the snow...

...to get all those clothes on.

You needed your mom.

One of the last things you wanna do...

...because once your helmet goes on, you

can't touch your face any longer, is scratch.

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