![]() ![]() Hoffman using binoculars, whereupon he noted that the right-hand solar array was bent at a 90° angle. At the end of Flight Day 2, Endeavour was 350 km (220 mi) behind HST and closing.įlight Day 3 Approaching the telescope. All of Endeavour 's systems functioned well as the crew got a full day's sleep in preparation for the evening's rendezvous. The crew made a detailed inspection of the payload and checked out both the robot arm ( Canadarm) and the spacesuits. After launch, the astronauts carried out a series of checks on the vehicle and went to sleep seven and a half hours after liftoff.Įndeavour performed a series of burns that allowed the shuttle to close in on the Hubble Space Telescope at a rate of 110 km (68 mi) per 95-minute orbit. A 24‑hour scrub turnaround was put into effect with a launch window extending from 09:26 to 10:38 UTC on December 2, 1993. Just before the scrub the range was also in a no-go situation due to an 240 m (790 ft) long ship in the restricted sea zone. The first launch attempt on December 1, 1993, was scrubbed due to weather constraint violations at the Shuttle Landing Facility. The flight crew arrived at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) on November 27, 1993, and the payload bay doors were closed at 20:20 UTC on November 28, 1993. Since there were 4 delta-P transducers and the Launch commit criteria (LCC) required only 3 of 4, the transducer was depinned and would not be consulted during flight. To replace the actuator would have required a rollback to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) because access to the actuator was only through the Main Landing Gear wheel well. On November 18, 1993, Endeavour experienced a failure of a transducer on the elevon hydraulic actuator. The internal HST payload package was not affected because it was tightly sealed, and the contamination appeared to have been caused by sandblasting grit from recent Pad A modifications. Mission highlights Launch Launch of the first servicing missionĮndeavour was switched from Pad 39A to Pad 39B due to contamination of the Payload Changeout Room after a windstorm on October 30, 1993. Hoffman also spun a dreidel for the holiday of Hanukkah to a live audience watching via satellite. ![]() ![]() During the flight, mission specialist Jeffrey A. In order to complete the mission without too much fatigue, the five EVAs were shared between two pairs of different astronauts alternating their shifts. The flight plan allowed for two additional EVAs, which could have raised the total number to seven the final two contingency EVAs were not made. It lasted almost 11 days, and crew members made five spacewalks ( extravehicular activities (EVAs)), an all-time record even the re-positioning of Intelsat VI on STS-49 in May 1992 required only four. With its very heavy workload, the STS-61 mission was one of the most complex in the Shuttle's history. The flight also brought instrument upgrades and new solar arrays to the telescope. This correction occurred more than three and a half years after the Hubble was launched aboard STS-31 in April 1990. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision (marred by spherical aberration in its mirror) with the installation of a new main camera and a corrective optics package (COSTAR). The mission launched on December 2, 1993, from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. NASA will continue analyzing the imagery and video taken during launch and data to be acquired in the inspection using Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), to look into possible impact of the incident.Īfter the launch, electric supply from the shuttle for the heater of Kibo's Exposed Facility (EF) and Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section (ELM-ES) in the payload bay began, in order to avoid the temperature of equipments in it falls below acceptable range upon opening the payload bay door.STS-61 was NASA's first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Several pieces of foam from the External Tank (ET) were seen falling off after the launch. This is the 127th space shuttle mission and the 23rd mission for the Endeavour. JJST) from NASA Kennedy Space Center delivering the Kibo's Exposed Facility (EF) and Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section (ELM-ES). The Space Shuttle "Endeavour" successfully lifted off at 6:03 p.m. ![]()
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