Hubble Repair (STS-125) Mission Thread

[Testing]

Good Morning Wayne

 

[MeteorWayne]

Howdy! Should be a fun day to watch...

 

[MeteorWayne]

Having some typical trouble breaking loose the bolt for the WFPC2 ground strap..going for some heavier duty tools

 

[MeteorWayne]

WFPC2 has been removed from the telescope....

 

[MeteorWayne]

The new WFPC3 (Wide Field Planetary Camera 3) is installed!

 

[MeteorWayne]

WFPC3 (Wide Field Planetary Camera 3) is now installed, as well as it's ground strap!

"Aliveness test about to start on WFPC3" now that installation is complete.

 

[MeteorWayne]

WFPC3 is alive and well, WFPC2 has been installed in it's carrier for the ride home. I wonder where it will wind up?

 

[shuttle2moon]

Wonder why the nasa blog is not updated with this....

 

[MeteorWayne]

I'm too busy watching the TV to look

 

[Testing]

Has anyone heard how long the post mission checkout and calibration will take?

 

[MeteorWayne]

I seem to vaguely recall they expected full operation by September, but with preliminary images earlier than that.

I'm not 100% sure about that, just the best I remember, and I can't find it in my scribblenotes.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Aliveness tests underway for the new brain.... (SIC&DH)

(Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit)

 

[Testing]

How are they doing on timeline for this EVA and do they have any get ahaid items lined up?
I'm popping into NASA TV 10 seconds at a time to see where they are. If I stream too long
the IT police will chop my connection for a few days.

 

[MeteorWayne]

They were running behind by about 20 minutes for a while. But I think they are pretty close to caught up. Both High Priority tasks have been completed (WFPC3 and SIC&DH Remove and replace.

Good aliveness test on new SIC&DH, now moving on to functional test.

Soft Capture device has been installed, and I think I heard them ask about get aheads.

So going good!

Edit: Yes they are working on get aheads They have about 1 1/2 hours left on the scheduled EVA time.

 

[shuttle_guy]

I was surprised at the post-launch press conference that NASA said they saw no debris. I was watching the launch replays of the cameras posted around the launch site before the news conference, and on two of the replays there was what appeared to be the same large piece of white debris, over two feet in diameter by my reckoning. Watch the first 30 seconds or so of cameras UCS-15 (TV-21A) and KSC DOAMS (TV-16). In the first video, just as Atlantis emerges above the plume of vapor on the launch pad, the debris comes from somewhere on the external tank, approximately adjacent to the left side of Atlantis' cockpit and falls down behind the left wing. The other camera is looking at the back, or underside of the left wing, and on that video, a piece of debris appears behind and at the top of the wing and falls down and out of sight into the rockets' exhaust. By stopping the action, I could measure the diameter of the piece in the latter video and compare it to the diameter of the SRB body in the same frame. The piece of debris was about 1/5 the (12 foot) diameter of the SRB. Hence my guess that the piece was about 2 feet in size. It didn't appear that the piece hit the wing, and the event occurred so early that the shuttle wasn't going very fast. But still, I was a little dismayed that NASA hadn't seen it. ljg

Those white items you saw were the paper covers on the forward RCS thrusters. They are designed to come off at about 100 mph.

 

[shuttle_guy]

From your description, I suspect you saw the lightweight plastic covers that protect the RCS thrusters. They are designed to catch the airflow at low speed and rip off.

Correct except they are not plastic they are made of "paper" like material similar to that indestructable white material that many laege mail envalopes are made of I think it is calle Tydek. They keep any rain from entering the thrusters which would freeze during ascent and cause the thrusters to malfunction.

 

[shuttle_guy]

When they install the capture device today on HST that will allow a "spacecraft" to grapple on to deorbit the HST at the end of its life, I wonder what spacecraft they are talking about.....I do not think the constellation could do such a thing...

The Constellation manned spacecraft could dock with the new docking adapter that was added to the Hubble.

 

[Testing]

Hey SG, how you doing? I believe it is Tyvec.
TYVEK S-1025D TML 0.28% CVCM 0.04% GSC27631 WRAPPING MAT'L DUPONT

 

[MeteorWayne]

Both guys are back in the airlock, hatch locked, about to repress.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Mission Status Briefing (MSB) coming up momentarily on NASA TV.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I'm stunned. The lead EVA officer, Tomas Gonzalez-Torres was totally incorrect in desribing the problem during the removal of the WFPC2. He said it was the A latch that created the problem, and it was supported by other's statements.
It actually was the ground strap bolt that wouldn't break free, unless I hallucinated about 2 hours of EVA time.
Maybe I'm wrong, but that's not what I remember

Edit: what I wrote at 10:23 AM:

"Having some typical trouble breaking loose the bolt for the WFPC2 ground strap..going for some heavier duty tools "

 

[MeteorWayne]

SIC&DH functional test sucessful! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!

 

[3488]

Drew Feustel removes WFPC2 to make way for WFPC3.

Drew Feustal instals WFPC3.

Great to see that the first spacewalk appears 100% successful. The fact WFPC3 & the SIC&DH have come on as expected is a great omen.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Testing]

Answe to my own question. September 9 for first image collection release. Something will leak out.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Answe to my own question. September 9 for first image collection release. Something will leak out.

OK, so my memory was pretty good then

Now I have to check and see if I am right about what the problem was today. They say it was the "A" clamp, I say it was the ground strap.