STS-125 Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-125 – Atlantis

126th Space Shuttle Mission

30th Flight of Atlantis

Crew:

Scott Altman, Commander

Gregory Johnson, Pilot

Michael Good, Mission Specialist

Megan McArthur, Mission Specialist

John Grunsfeld, Mission Specialist

Mike Massimino, Mission Specialist

Andrew Feustel, Mission Specialist

Orbiter Preparations:

Tow to Orbiter Processing Facility – February 20, 2008

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – August 22, 2008

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – September 4, 2008

Rollback to Vehicle Assembly Building – October 20, 2008

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – March 31, 2009

Launch:

May 11, 2009 – 2:01 p.m. EDT. Launch was originally scheduled for October, 2008 but was postponed when a system that transfers science data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to Earth failed. NASA decided to postpone the mission until a replacement unit could be delivered. Launch was initially targeted for February, 2009 but was postponed to May. May 11 launch occurred on time with no delays.

Landing:

May 24, 2009 – 11:39 a.m. EDT at Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Landing attempts at the Kennedy Space Center on May 22, 23 and 24 were waived due to bad weather. Mission duration was 12 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes, 9 seconds.

Mission Summary:

This was the fifth Space Shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).There were five spacewalks during the mission. The first spacewalk was conducted on May 14 and lasted 7 hours, 20 minutes. Astronauts Grunsfeld and Feustel installed Wide Field Camera 3 and replaced the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit.

The second spacewalk was conducted on May 15 and lasted 7 hours, 56 minutes. Astronauts Good and Massimino replaced three rate sensing units and replaced a battery module in HST Bay 2. The third spacewalk was conducted on May 16 and lasted 6 hours, 36 minutes. Astronauts Grunsfeld and Feustel removed the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement and installed the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. They also repaired the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The fourth spacewalk of the mission was conducted on May 17 and lasted 8 hours, 2 minutes. Astronauts Good and Massimino repaired the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph by replacing a power supply board. The fifth spacewalk of the mission was conducted on May 18 and lasted 7 hours, 2 minutes. Astronauts Feustel and Grunsfeld swapped a battery module from HST Bay 3 and removed and replaced the Fine Guidance Sensor 2. They also installed the New Outer Blanket Layer on three bays outside HST.