Shuttle crew grabs hold of Hubble and prepares to begin repairs Thursday

The robot arm of Atlantis reaches out for Hubble, left, and then captures it, center. At right is the view from orbit of the Red Sea, the Sinai Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea.

In this image taken from NASA video, Hubble (L) is captured by the space shuttle's robotic arm as Atlantis begins its mission to service the space telescope, on May 13, 2009. Astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis maneuvered within sight of the Hubble Space Telescope Wednesday, readying a robot arm to grab the 13.2-meter- (43.5-feet-)long observatory to ready an ambitious overhaul. With Hubble securely aboard Atlantis, the astronauts will use cameras on the robot arm to examine the telescope. The observatory may have aged dramatically since 2002, succombing to the corrosive forces of solar radiation, NASA warned. AFP PHOTO/NASA VIDEO = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE = GETTY OUT =

This image provided by NASA shows a high oblique scene looking toward the Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea. Saudi Arabia is in the foreground and Egypt's Nile River and its delta can be seen (left) toward the horizon. Israel and Jordan can be seen near the top edge of the frame. The Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba (near frame center) extend from the Red Sea, bottom, toward the Mediterranean Sea. The image is among the first group of still images downlinked Tuesday May 12, 2009 by the crewmembers onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis enroute to the Hubble Space Telescope.

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The robot arm of Atlantis reaches out for Hubble, left, and then captures it, center. At right is the view from orbit of the Red Sea, the Sinai Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea.

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By Ann Schrader | The Denver Post

PUBLISHED: May 13, 2009 at 1:25 PM MDT | UPDATED: May 6, 2016 at 8:13 PM MDT

Getting your player ready...

The first of five spacewalks to repair and rejuvenate the Hubble Space Telescope gets underway today.

First up will be installation of the Wide Field Camera 3, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder.

At 11:14 a.m. Wednesday, a robotic arm on the space shuttle Atlantis grabbed the telescope 350 miles above western Australia. The crew reported that the Hubble, which was built by Lockheed Martin Aerospace, looked to be in good shape.

On Friday, Hubble’s batteries will be replaced and the Advanced Camera for Surveys will be repaired. Saturday’s work schedule entails installation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which was designed by University of Colorado at Boulder scientists and built by Ball.

And Sunday, repair is scheduled on the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Monday’s final spacewalk will repair the telescope’s fine-guidance system and gyroscopes.

When the mission is ended, all of Hubble’s instruments will have been built by Ball.

Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com

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Shuttle crew grabs hold of Hubble and prepares to begin repairs Thursday

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