FOLLOW ALONG AS AN

ASTRONOMER-ASTRONAUT
VISITS THE AILING HUBBLE
SPACE TELESCOPE AND,
ALONG WITH HIS CREWMATES,
RESTORES IT TO ELECTRONIC
AND MECHANICAL HEALTH.
BY JOHN M. GRUNSFELD

©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

 ASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery and her crew of seven
were given an important assignment last December: restore the ailing Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) to health. The multibillion-dollar observatory had been or-
biting with its telescopic eye closed since November 13th, when the fourth of its
six gyroscopes shut down. Without at least three working gyros to sense changes
in orientation, the telescope can’t be pointed at astronomical targets.
HST servicing mission 3A, also known as shuttle mission STS 103, was not original-
ly on NASA’s flight schedule for 1999. It was added primarily to replace the failed
gyros and get the telescope’s science program back on track. On servicing mission
3B, now put off until 2001, astronauts will install a powerful new camera, replace the
twin solar-cell arrays, restore Hubble’s near-infrared camera to operation, and repair the spacecraft’s insulation blankets.
Discovery lifted off on December 19th and linked up with Hubble on the 21st. On each of the next three days
pairs of astronauts made eight-hour-long space walks to carry out repairs. They replaced all six gyros, in-
stalled regulators on the spacecraft’s batteries, upgraded the onboard computer, and swapped in a new fine-
guidance sensor. They also installed a digital data recorder, replaced a broken radio transmitter, and attached some
new insulation. HST was set free on Christmas, and Discovery landed safely in Florida on December 27th.
Among December’s space walkers was astronomer-astronaut John M. Grunsfeld (pictured above), making his third
shuttle flight. During his previous mission, in January
December 14, 1999 1997, he posted daily reports from orbit to NASA’s Web
MORE site. He had so much fun that he decided to do it again on
This the first of a series of dispatches describing
THAN A our mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, in- STS 103. Eager to share his Hubble-repair experience with
DREAM cluding those I will pen while floating in space aboard the widest possible audience of astronomy enthusiasts,
COME Discovery. I hope to share some of this adventure with Grunsfeld arranged to post his dispatches not only to
TRUE my fellow astronomers, young and old, from casual
stargazers to devoted amateurs and professionals. NASA’s Web site but also to Sky & Telescope’s. Thousands
To have the opportunity to fly in space at all is a tremendous of readers followed the astronauts’ exploits at http://
privilege. But to work with the Hubble team and to fly into Earth www.skypub.com/news/special/grunsfeld.html, and we
orbit to rendezvous with the telescope and repair it — well, it’s present excerpts from Grunsfeld’s journal here.“For me it’s
more than a dream come true for one who loves astronomy.
Two of my crewmates, Claude Nicollier and Mike Foale, are also exciting to be a part of S&T,” says the Hubble repairman,
trained in physics and astronomy. We have three electrical engi- “having been influenced by its pages for so many years.”
neers aboard: shuttle commander Curt
Brown, pilot Scott Kelly, and space-walk
commander Steve Smith. Jean-François As Discovery began its rendezvous with Hubble last December 21st, her crew members were
Clervoy is an aeronautical engineer. All treated to a conjunction of the observatory and the nearly full Moon (bottom left). Over the next
of us are anxious to restore Hubble to few hours (middle two) the gap between the two spacecraft closed to a few tens of feet, at which
its job of revealing the secrets and beau- point astronaut Jean-François Clervoy grappled the telescope with the shuttle’s robotic arm and
ty of the universe. parked it in the cargo bay (bottom right). All images in this article are courtesy NASA.

©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Sky & Telescope April 2000 37
 December 15th
PRE-LAUNCH Launch minus one day and counting. We
QUARANTINE are in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center,
where we’ve been for about a week. Quarantine is a kind of iso-
lation for the crew to prevent contact with anyone having a cold
or the flu. The separation from our friends and families makes
this time a difficult one, especially with Christmas coming. But
it does allow us to focus on the upcoming mission while also of-
fering us a chance to relax a bit — the calm before the storm.
After dinner one night earlier this week, I brought out a 4-
inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and Claude and I orches-
trated an impromptu star party for the crew. We offered a nice
tour of the rings of Saturn, Jupiter and its moons, the Great
Nebula in Orion, the Pleiades, and the Andromeda Galaxy.
While our mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope will
result in the resumption of the fantastic images the orbiting
observatory provides, looking through a small backyard tele-
scope still offers a magic that can’t be matched. That magic is
even more rewarding when it is shared with friends, especially
friends who will be sharing a trip on the Space Shuttle.
If all goes well with the countdown, we should be in space
soon. Hubble orbits quietly, its aperture door closed, awaiting
our visit.

Top: When NASA first decided to mount an emergency repair mission to the
Hubble Space Telescope, launch was scheduled for August 1999. But wiring
problems and other difficulties delayed the mission until mid-December, and
rainy weather threatened to postpone it until early 2000. Then, on December
19th, the clouds parted, and Discovery finally blasted off from Florida’s
Kennedy Space Center.

Bottom: The crew of Hubble servicing mission 3A on Discovery’s aft flight deck. Front row, from left: Claude Nicol-
lier, Scott J. Kelly, and author John M. Grunsfeld. Back row, from left: Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale, Curtis L.
Brown Jr., and Jean-François Clervoy. Nicollier and Smith participated in the first (1993) and second (1997) Hubble
servicing missions, respectively. Nicollier and Clervoy represent the European Space Agency.

December 20th
ASCENT After more launch dates than we could remember, more like an electric train than the bucking bronco of the
TO the weather finally gave us a break. With a countdown solids. Discovery performed flawlessly, without even a burp to
ORBIT whose perfection was matched only by the weather, we put us on edge. Nearing main-engine cutoff, the acceleration
sat on the launch pad in the final few minutes, amazed that was three times normal gravity, meaning I had the effect of a
all was so smooth. We tightened our straps, focused on the 600-pound gorilla standing on my chest. Breathing at this ac-
displays and computers, and with six seconds to go the main celeration took some effort.
engines came alive. A great cloud of steam loomed into view Main-engine cutoff brought the magic of weightlessness. The
in our forward windows with red and pink hues. At “T minus transition was instant; one moment we had the force of the en-
zero” the solid rockets lit, and with a jolt we were clear of the gines pushing us into our seats, and suddenly, as if gravity were
tower and on our way. turned off, we floated. This is Scott’s first space flight, and his
First-stage flight, with both the solid-rocket boosters and glee from the first moments of floating was infectious. It is re-
the shuttle’s main engines going, was a very rough ride. Since markable that I remember so well how to live in weightlessness.
we launched into the night, the light from
the solids’ exhaust made it seem like day-
WHILE OUR MISSION TO SERVICE THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE WILL
light outside.
After two minutes the solid rockets de- RESULT IN THE RESUMPTION OF THE FANTASTIC IMAGES THE ORBIT-
parted, everyone aboard breathed a sigh of
ING OBSERVATORY PROVIDES, LOOKING THROUGH A SMALL BACK-
relief, and we accelerated on up to orbit.
The ride on the main engines was smooth, YARD TELESCOPE STILL OFFERS A MAGIC THAT CAN’T BE MATCHED.

38 April 2000 Sky & Telescope ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
 December 21st
AN
We started the day with some thruster firings
EXCITING
to catch up with Hubble. Each time one of the reac-
DAY IN tion-control jets fires it sounds like a cannon going
SPACE off in the shuttle. Closer and closer we crept up on
the telescope, gaining a couple hundred miles by lunchtime.
While Curt, Scott, and Jean-François performed the burns,
the space-walking crew members — Steve, Claude, Mike, and I
— prepared the tools and space suits for tomorrow’s big event.
At one point, while looking out the windows, we saw a
conjunction of Hubble and the nearly full Moon. It was an
incredible sight! The telescope was about 50 miles away, the
brightest “star” in the sky even though Sirius was visible too.
We also had great views of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Orion
Nebula, just as we had on the ground. But now, with a pair of
20× binoculars, we could easily see the rings around Saturn
and some structure in Jupiter’s cloudtops. It’s nice not to have
any atmosphere to distort the images. Of course, that’s what
makes Hubble such a good
observatory as well. Top: Astronauts Steven Smith
Finally we met Hubble (left) and Claude Nicollier, both
face to face in a dramatic veterans of earlier visits to the
rendezvous. Because the ob- Hubble telescope, check out
servatory was idle in a pro- the suits they’ll wear on their
tective “safe mode,” Curt had upcoming space walks.
to maneuver precisely so that
Jean-François could grapple Middle: Having donned his liq-
the telescope with the shut- uid-cooled underwear, author
tle’s robotic arm. We were all John Grunsfeld pulls on the
jubilant as he parked Hubble lower half of his space suit in
securely in its cradle in Dis- preparation for his first space
covery’s cargo bay. walk last December 22nd.
Now I must go to sleep.
Big day for me tomorrow: Bottom: As Discovery crosses
my first space walk and my Earth’s day-night terminator,
chance to meet Hubble up the Hubble Space Telescope —
close and personal. As an as- on the end of the shuttle’s ro-
tronomer I face the day with botic arm — catches a bright
great excitement and a little sunglint.
trepidation.

December 23rd
ONE
My hands are still sore from the space walk
INCREDIBLE that Steve and I did yesterday. We were outside
VIEW for more than eight hours, two hours longer
than planned. All along the way we encountered various small
problems with bolts that were frozen, boxes that didn’t fit
right, and doors that refused to close. In the end we complet-
ed all of our objectives, but Steve and I were beat.
Although I can’t describe all of my impressions, I’ll try to
share a few of my experiences here. I floated out of the air-
lock and spent a few minutes turning cartwheels and pitching
back and forth. For the last two years I have been training in
a large swimming pool in my space suit, and I had to untrain
some of my reactions. Moving about in space requires small,
very delicate actions. It seemed as if it would be easy to get
out of control if I pushed or pulled on anything too hard.

©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

 Top: Standing on the end of the shuttle’s robotic arm (visible at lower
right), Grunsfeld prepares to replace a failed radio transmitter in one
of Hubble’s electronics bays, whose door is open at right. One of the
telescope’s delicate solar-cell arrays appears at upper left.

Middle: Michael Foale (left) and Claude Nicollier replace one of the
Hubble Space Telescope’s fine-guidance sensors during the second
space walk of December’s repair mission.

Bottom: Smith (foreground) and Grunsfeld prepare to wrap up the

mission’s third and final space walk.

Facing page: Discovery’s cargo bay and the Earth below are reflected
in the helmet visor of a space-walking astronaut.

The view was so clear it was hard to believe it was real. In

the first few moments of our outing my field of vision was
filled with a bright blue ocean dappled with wispy clouds and
blocked only by the Hubble telescope, which reflected the
Earth in its mirrorlike surface. From 370 miles up I could
fully grasp the curvature of our globe.
For our first task, Steve and I put a support post under the
telescope to keep it stable while we worked on it. Then I
reached out and touched the telescope for the first time — for
me, a magical moment.
Next we set out to open the doors on the observatory’s aft
shroud, where the scientific instruments are housed, but the
bolts wouldn’t turn with our power wrench, which didn’t
have enough torque. I set the tool to “manual” and freed the
bolts with a fair amount of force. Once the doors were open I
had my first view inside the spacecraft. A black lining keeps
stray light from interfering with the instruments and makes
the telescope’s dark interior look plain, belying its true com-
plexity.
Steve replaced two of the three gyroscope boxes, each con-
taining two gyros, with a few difficult trials and tribulations.
Then it was my turn. Attached to the robotic arm, I rotated
my foot plate so that I was facing up along the telescope’s
long axis. Jean-François, driving the arm from inside Discov-
ery, then maneuvered me directly into Hubble’s heart. I was
only inches away from two cameras near the telescope’s focal
plane. Here, looking up toward the gyro box I was to replace,
I was looking straight up the telescope’s tube. Edwin Hubble
used to sit at the focal plane of the 200-inch telescope on
Palomar Mountain, and though I could not see through his
namesake’s aperture, I felt some kinship to him. Replacing the
final gyro box went uneventfully, though I was tense the
whole time. Once finished, I was gratified to know that we
had restored Hubble’s ability to resume its important work.
The rest of our first space walk brought a series of small
challenges as we closed the instrument-bay doors and in-
stalled some new electrical circuits to enhance the solar-cell
and battery-charging systems.
Meanwhile, Claude and Mike are out doing the second
space walk of the flight, and they are finishing up with replac-
ing one of Hubble’s fine-guidance sensors. Earlier they re-
placed the observatory’s computer with a much faster one
that has 10 times more memory.

40 April 2000 Sky & Telescope ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
 December 25th
A GREAT
Our flight’s third and final space walk smile, in recognition of the unique and special place we occu-
CHRISTMAS yesterday was as exciting and tiring as the pied at that moment. Three hundred seventy miles above
PRESENT other two. This time, however, I was armed planet Earth we were working on the world’s greatest tele-
with the knowledge gained from my first exposure to working scope, in our own personal spaceships. As Steve put one of
in the vacuum and weightlessness of space. the large “pie-tin” thermal shields in place, I looked up to
Steve and I exited the hatch and went right to work. I was capture in my mind a picture of the telescope, with its tube
attached by a foot restraint to the shuttle’s robotic arm, con- temporarily pointed at the Earth’s surface.
trolled once again by the expert hands of Jean-François. Steve After eight hours of work we came in tired but satisfied
was the free floater, attached to Discovery by only a thin stain- that we had accomplished the mission we had come to per-
less-steel tether. Like two doctors working on a patient we form. I was spent but full of excitement. Here we were, the
moved from one side of the telescope to the other as we went only seven humans in space, repairing a telescope whose sole
about our tasks. We swapped out a faulty radio transmitter, purpose is to enrich the minds of people on planet Earth and
then removed an outmoded tape recorder and put a new increase our understanding of the workings of the universe. I
solid-state recorder in its place. At certain points we were can think of no better peaceful use of space for all hu-
within a couple feet of the telescope’s extremely delicate solar- mankind.
cell arrays; we had to constantly remind ourselves not to lean Today being Christmas, we broke out red Santa hats to
back or let our feet float up too close to them. wear while performing our duties on Discovery. It was very
After three hours of nonstop work, I can fairly say my hands silly but helped to keep our spirits high on this day in space,
have never been so tired, even after a day of rock climbing in away from our families. For us the experience was tempered
the mountains. On several occasions I had to let my hands by the very serious task of releasing the telescope from the
float in front of me to give them a brief rest. All the tools are cargo bay. The deployment went off without a hitch, and I felt
tethered, so I could let some of them float in front of me as a tinge of sadness as I watched Hubble gracefully float away
well. No Earthbound mechanic could do that, and it seemed from us. What a great Christmas present to share Earth orbit
awkward to just let go of a tool. with such a special observatory!
After finishing our work on the spacecraft’s
electronics, we switched places; Steve climbed
TOMORROW WE LEAVE THIS MAGICAL WORLD OF WEIGHTLESSNESS.
onto the robotic arm, and I became the free
floater. Now we set about to replace two 3-by-5- . . . THE WORLD WE RETURN TO IS DOMINATED BY GRAVITY,
foot sections of thermal insulation on the space-
WHICH AT LEAST FOR A FEW DAYS WILL SEEM LIKE A WEIGHT
craft’s electronics bays. As we worked Steve and
I would occasionally glance at each other and HUNG AROUND OUR NECKS AND OUR PSYCHES.

©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

 December 26th Below left: Fortified with new gyroscopes and a host of other up-
grades and improvements, the newly refurbished Hubble Space
OUR LAST
It is hard to believe that in just the last Telescope prepares to resume observations after being released
FULL DAY week we have captured the Hubble Space Tele- from the shuttle Discovery on Christmas Day. Note the open aper-
IN ORBIT scope, performed three space walks to repair and ture cover at upper right.
service it, and released it back into space to observe the cosmos.
Today was mostly a day of cleaning, stowing all the tools Below: After a successful Hubble repair mission, Discovery and her
we had used and putting the space suits away for the last time crew of seven touch down in darkness at Florida’s Kennedy Space
on this flight. We also fired our maneuvering rockets to Center last December 27th.
bring us down to a slightly lower orbit than Hubble’s. With
that done, celestial mechanics has moved us so far ahead
of the telescope in only a few hours that we can no longer
see it. Earlier we could see it at sunrise as a bright point
near the horizon, set in front of a sea of stars.
Once Discovery’s cabin was put in order we had time to
go up to the flight deck, turn out all the lights, and do a lit-
tle stargazing on the night side of our orbit. As we race
around the Earth at 5 miles per second stars slowly rise
through the airglow, a thin veil of light above Earth’s limb
caused by emissions from nitrogen and oxygen atoms ener-
gized by the Sun. The Milky Way cuts across the sky out
our windows like a rising cloud let loose from the Earth.
The astronomers onboard were especially pleased to see the After traveling across the Atlantic observing the stars, we
Southern Cross, the Magellanic Clouds, and all the southern spied Venus. At first we were slightly confused because it
constellations that we can’t see from Houston. seemed so bright. But given its appearance almost in the Scor-
pion’s pincers, there could be no real ambiguity or confusion,
and the planet’s identity was soon confirmed by the glow of
the impending sunrise.
Tomorrow we leave this magical world of weightlessness,
stellar tours, space walks, and Earth views. The world we re-
turn to is dominated by gravity, which at least for a few days
will seem like a weight hung around our necks and our psy-
ches. But for the crew here aboard Discovery, at least we trade
our most excellent adventure for the warmth of our families.
And, of course, we bring back the great satisfaction of return-
ing the Hubble Space Telescope to operation. For myself, I
also found that I have a new relationship with Hubble. When
I go outside to view its transits over Houston at dusk or
dawn, I will smile and think of my first space walk, when I
reached out for the first time to touch the telescope.

January 6, 2000
EPILOGUE We’re back on the ground, rejoicing in
our successful mission and reliving it as we examine the
thousands of photographs we took. Hubble is in great shape
considering that it has been exposed to the harsh environ-
ment of Earth orbit for 10 years now. Its insulation may be a
bit frayed, but its scientific instruments and electronics are
working better than ever following our repairs (see page 22).
Spending a few days with Hubble has changed my life and is
certainly the most exciting experience I have ever had with a
telescope. As you view the fantastic images Hubble returns in
the coming years, I hope my space-flight travelogue adds
some perspective to your own astronomical journey.

NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld earned his bachelor’s and Ph.D.

degrees in physics at MIT and the University of Chicago, respectively.
He served as a senior research fellow at Caltech from 1989 to 1992
and has observed with a variety of radio, optical, X-ray, and gamma-
ray telescopes on the ground and in space.

42 April 2000 Sky & Telescope ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.