<span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Oct. 30, 2008</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">RELEASE: 08-280</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">NASA MANAGERS DELAY HUBBLE SERVICING MISSION</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">WASHINGTON -- NASA managers have announced that they will not meet a </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">February 2009 launch date for the fifth and final shuttle mission to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">the Hubble Space Telescope. The decision comes after engineers </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">completed assessments of the work needed to get a second data </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">handling unit for the telescope ready to fly. The unit will replace </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">one that failed on Hubble in late September, causing the agency to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">postpone the servicing mission, which had been targeted for Oct. 14. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">"We now have done enough analysis of all the things that need to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">happen with the flight spare unit to know that we cannot be ready for </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">a February launch," said NASA's Astrophysics Division Director Jon </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Morse at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The February date was an </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">initial estimate, assuming minimal hardware preparations and test </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">durations that are no longer viewed as realistic. We've communicated </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">our assessment to the Space Shuttle Program so it can adjust </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">near-term plans. We will work closely with the Shuttle Program to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">develop details for a new launch opportunity." </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">"Getting ourselves in a position to be ready to launch the Hubble </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">mission will involve many steps, and a significant one took place </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">earlier today," said Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch at NASA's </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We held a flight </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">certification peer review meeting where every aspect for doing this </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">effort -- the inspections needed, all the tests to be conducted, the </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">certification process and the final flight preparations -- was </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">examined. The conclusion was that we indeed have a very good plan in </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">place." </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">The Hubble flight spare, known as the Science Instrument Command and </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Data Handling system, has been at Goddard since it was originally </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">delivered as a back-up system in 1991. The unit currently is </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">undergoing testing and examination to identify and correct any </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">problems. That work will continue until mid-December. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">The unit will then undergo environmental assessments that include </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">electro-magnetic interference checks, vibration tests, and extended </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">time in a thermal vacuum chamber. Environmental testing is </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">anticipated to run from mid-December to early March 2009. Final </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">testing will be conducted on the unit, and delivery to NASA's Kennedy </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Space Center in Florida is expected in early April. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">"The equipment we are dealing with has a flight-proven design," said </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Burch." The original unit on Hubble ran for more than 18 years. We </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">have a lot of spare parts if we encounter problems, and we have most </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">of the same test equipment that was used with the original unit. We </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">also have a lot of experience on our Hubble electrical replica, which </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">uses the engineering model data handling unit." </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">The vast majority of the flight hardware, tools and support equipment </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">that will be used during the mission will be stored at Kennedy. A </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">small amount of new work such as re-lubricating the latches on the </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Soft Capture Mechanism and testing the motors on the Flight Support </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">System will be conducted. The Wide Field Camera 3 will remain in its </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">carrier. The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph is in a special </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">double-layered purge system in its shipping container to help support </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">its environmental needs. The new batteries to be installed during the </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">mission are in cold storage at Goddard and will be returned to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Kennedy in 2009. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">In the meantime, science observations on Hubble that had been </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">suspended continue to move toward standard operations. The current </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">primary camera on the telescope, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">was brought back online. On Wednesday, calibration images with the </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Advanced Camera for Surveys' Solar Blind Channel were completed. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">Regular science observations resumed Thursday, and the first science </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'">image from the camera was released. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'CourierNew'"> </span> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>