To be fair, half the problem was just in fixing failed parts. There have been 2 spacewalks each for both pairs. Pair 1 will go out tomorrow for the 5th. With each of these pairings – both men, one of them is a real smart geek and the other one is built like a tree.

They ran into some MAJOR delays and problems … stripped bolts, jammed bolts, and bent bolts. For the most part the problem was fixed by taking the guy sent out who is built like a tree to give the bionic arm wrestling contest a try. Today NASA was particularly concerned, because after breaking a bolt by force, using the handle it was attached to as a crow-bar, the bolt would fly out into space, and so could the Astronaut too once the thing gave way and broke free from the Hubble. Man, that that bolt ever leave like a bullet! It will be seen by someone maybe as an interesting meteorite soon. The delay meant that the first of two “thermal blanket” layerings planned between today and tomorrow will have to be cancelled. If there is time, the blankets … both today’s planned blanket and tomorrow’s planned blanket will be completed tomorrow.

These guys today were not exactly up to “circuit discipline.” All day long were comments like “you’re da’ bomb, man. You’re the best, man.” As a matter of fact, when it was time to go back into the Shuttle, the Astronauts refused to immediately go. They knew that on this flight, and perhaps for the last time until the 2020’s, they would never be able to see Earth from an EVA suit – which is remarkably better than the view from inside the Station or inside the Shuttle. After a very long delay and a long moment of silence, as the Astronauts just sat there watching Earth go by from South America to the sunset, they just stayed there and watched.

Now don’t get me wrong, “circuit discipline” has its place … like in the last 30 seconds of a landing attempt. But I have to hand it to the Russians. They know how to loosen up a bit. Recently the Russians had to inform the International Space Station of an emergency by “How are things going today? Good. Did you enjoy breakfast yet? Good. By the way, please cancel your planned activity for the next hour and go inside the Escape Capsule because debris is about to smash into you. If it misses we will resume where we left off.” The uplink from NASA to the American astronauts about the same “emergency?” “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” It is particularly pleasurable that the astronauts took some time to enjoy space. After all, if they don’t show interest, why should we? I’m very happy when Astronauts “dig” the view.

MOST INTERESTING to me is that the corrective “lens fix” that was put on the Hubble to restore the (unexpectedly) flawed mirror is being removed and being taken back down in the Payload Bay. Thanks to a scientist who perfected “optical correction” techniques to overcome the effects of the “shimmering” effect of the atmosphere, computers on the ground can do even better than what this “corrective lens” did, so they pulled the corrective lens off, and they’ll take the Hubble flawed image and correct it on the ground, producing even better results than what the “lens” was able to produce.

So capabilities and sub-routines that have failed over the years have been “alive-tested” by Goddard Spaceflight Center (that controls Hubble) and most have already passed “function tests” over the years. Many of these “Functions” have been down for many years.

So, so far, so good. We’ll know for sure once the “arm” that will lift out, and then “release” Hubble leaves the Satellite on its own, at which time we’ll really be able to see what Hubble can do. There is an additional module going onto Hubble … a bracket from which future spacecraft (Orion is obviously the plan) can rondezvouz with the Hubble and drive it out of orbit … once it really is dead … instead of waiting for a random landing entry like what we experienced with Skylab. But at 350 miles high – 125 miles higher than the Space Station … Hubble’s not falling anytime fast.

I want Kirk’s Corvette.

My future car still runs on gas, gets about 70 miles a gallon, and is painted like a fighter jet from the Enterprise.

No electricity required.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f142/cr033k/deks.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f142/cr033k/STP63336.jpg

Plus its over 20 years old……

Where do I get that SkyMap application?

I don’t have that on my tricord- uh, phone.

agreed….nothing against Hubble but Herschel’s main mirror has 2 1/2 times the size of Hubble’s. And when it reaches it’s L2 point in the shadow of earth – far away from all the suns interference it will hopefully blow your mind with pictures of never before seen quality….

I remember visiting a Trek Con in Berlin around ten years ago and a NASA guest reffered about the Next Generation Space Telescope to replace Hubble – I wonder what happened to it. Most likely Bush spent the money on one of his stupid wars….

I SO MUCH APPRECIATE SCIENCE FRIDAY! It really is the highlight of this site. Can’t really escape Star Trek this week, not even in space.

While all the news this week is on Atlantis, making its 3rd from last flight ever (3 landings, 2 launches to go), there was other big news in space: Star Trek. Yes, Star Trek. During the day, NASA “beamed up” the movie … okay, with a station without lawyers and a NASA without a budget they probably just grabbed a copy from a bit torrent site while flying over it.

So there you have it … the Japanese, American, and Russian crew member watched the Star Trek movie, and from what I hear, the movie gets high marks in space … the final frontier.