The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) berthed in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS-109 mission silhouetted against the airglow of the Earth’s horizon. For this fourth repair mission in March 2002, the telescope was captured and secured on a work stand in Columbia’s payload bay using the shuttle’s robotic arm. Four of the seven-member crew performed five spacewalks completing system upgrades to the telescope. Included in those upgrades were: replacement of the solar array panels; replacement of the power control unit; replacement of the Faint Object Camera with a new advanced camera for surveys; and installation of the experimental cooling system for the Hubble’s Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS), which had been dormant since January 1999 when its original coolant ran out. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., managed the design, development, and construction of the telescope. Engineers designed the telescope so that it could be serviced in space to extend its life.
Image credit: NASA