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STS-125: The mission

A detailed step-by-step preview of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to extend the life and vision of the Hubble Space Telescope.

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STS-125: The EVAs

The lead spacewalk officer provides indepth explanations of the five EVAs to service Hubble during Atlantis' flight.

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STS-125: The crew

The seven shuttle Atlantis astronauts hold a press conference one month before their planned launch to Hubble.

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STS-125: NASA leaders

The leaders of NASA's Space Operations and Science directorates give their insights into the upcoming shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

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STS-125: Shuttle boss

The head of NASA's space shuttle program discusses the risks and plans for Atlantis' trek to Hubble.

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The Hubble program

An overview of the Hubble Space Telescope program and the planning that has gone into the final servicing mission.

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Hubble's future science

The new instruments to be installed into Hubble and the future science objectives for the observatory are previewed.

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Meet the Hubble crew

Meet the crew launching on Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope and learn how each became an astronaut in this special biography movie.

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Astronauts turn to muscle power to free stuck bolt
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: May 17, 2009

Applying brute force to an interfering handrail locked in place by a stripped screw, astronaut Michael Massimino got a good grip, braced himself and and pulled the top of the handrail away, shearing off the recalcitrant screw and clearing the way for a long awaited instrument repair on the Hubble Space Telescope.


Astronauts Mike Good (left) and Mike Massimino (right) have had a frustrating EVA today. Credit: NASA TV
 
It was the second time in the shuttle Atlantis' ongoing Hubble servicing mission that astronaut muscle power was called on to save the day. During the crew's first spacewalk Thursday, astronaut Andrew Feustel had to force a stuck bolt out with a socket wrench to release an old camera, making way for installation of the new Wide Field Camera 3.

During today's spacewalk, Massimino and Michael "Bueno" Good are attempting to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, a sophisticated instrument that suffered a major power failure in 2004. To repair the instrument, the astronauts must remove a cover plate held on by 111 small screws to gain access to a circuit board that must be replaced.

To get the cover plate off, they first had to remove a handrail preventing the attachment of an ingenious "fastener capture plate" designed to trap the small screws and washers as they are released. THe handrail was held in place by four screws. Three came out with no problem, but the fourth, in the bottom right position, refused to budge and the head was stripped by Massimino's power driver.

Despite multiple attempts and a different tool bit, the screw refused to budge. Flight controllers briefly considered attempting to remove smaller screws holding the base of the handrail in place, but they ultimately hit upon the brute force solution. With the top of the handrail free, controllers suggested Massimino simply pull it away until the lower screw snapped.

"Yeah, and Drew, before we get into it, just wanted to give you a little bit more information," astronaut Dan Burbank called from mission control. "This was just done, just now, at Goddard (Space Flight Center) on a flight equipment unit and it took 60 pounds linear (force) at the top of the handhold to fail the single bolt in the lower right position at the bottom."

"OK. Mass, you copy that?" Feustel asked. "Sixty pounds linear at the top of the handrail to pop off that bottom bolt. I think you've got that in you."

"I can try," Massimino agreed. "So what do we do? Just give us the steps."

With flight controllers laughing in the background at Massimino's eagerness, Burbank told the astronauts to stand by while engineers reviewed the plan and the techniques needed to capture any released debris. It was decided to use Kapton tape over the ends of the handrail to help trap any loose washers or debris.

"Just tell me what your hand placement plan is and what you think about managing the sharp edges after it breaks, if you want to try and rock it to fatigue it or just a straight pull?" shuttle commander Scott Altman radioed from the flight deck.

"I don't know. I think maybe rocking it a little bit and then pulling it off, you know, I can feel it now, starting to come away. I'm not going to have a big death grip on it, but do what I can to pull it off. Mike, you handy with the disposal bag? If we're lucky enough to break this thing?"

He then got a grip and prepared to pull the handrail away.

"Easy, easy, Mike, just real easy, OK?" Feustel said.

"Here we go," Massimino said, pulling the handrail away. There was no television coverage at the time, but he apparently had no problems.

"Mass, I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like it all stayed intact with the tape."

"Yeah, it did, I don't think we scattered any debris," Massimino said.

"Don't touch that," Feustel said, apparently referring to the broken end of the handrail.

"No, I'm just pointing to it. You can see the bolt's still in there."

Even though the sheared screw was sticking up a bit from the surface of the instrument, flight controllers and the astronauts decided it was not a sharp-edge threat and that they could press ahead with the repair.

"Awesome job," Burbank said. "We agree, we're back in with the regularly scheduled programming. We understand we're a little bit more tether challenged than we were before and we really appreciate the additional description on the additional sharp edge concern. Wonderful."

Running nearly two hours behind schedule by that point, the battery in Massimino's power tool suddenly died, prompting an "oh, for Pete's sake!" from the frustrated spacewalker.

"How are you guys doing inside the spaceship?" he joked, calling his crewmates inside the shuttle Atlantis.

"It's a real nail biter, buddy," Feustel said dryly.

"I wonder how everybody's doing down in Houston?"

"We're having a great time down here as well," Burbank replied.

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VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
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