United Space Alliance

STS-125

Space Shuttle

SUCCESS
Success

Monday, May 11, 2009 · 18:01 UTC

Mission

/01

STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Space Shuttle Atlantis carried two new instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan.

Mission Type

Astrophysics

Orbit

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Probability

N/A

Status

Launch Successful

Vehicle & Pad

/02

Rocket

Space Shuttle

Launch Pad

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

28.608° N, 80.604° W

87

Pad Launches

143

Location Launches

42

Agency Launches

27

Orbital This Year

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