CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With storms threatening to delay their return to Earth, the Atlantis astronauts took a break from landing preparations Thursday to update a Senate panel on their triumphant Hubble Space Telescope repairs.
NASA’s spaceport was pounded Thursday by fierce thunderstorms expected to continue today when Atlantis was due to land.
The astronauts’ Hubble repairs garnered kudos from the president and members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee that invited the crew to testify at a hearing. Such in-orbit testimony was a first.
“When we talk about the Hubble and giving it essentially a new life and a new way of going and seeing the universe, you’ve touched our hearts and you’ve also made history,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the science appropriations subcommittee.
The astronauts were conserving power in order to remain aloft until Monday, if necessary.
Chief repairman John Gruns feld, a future University of Colorado at Boulder adjunct professor, said he felt satisfaction, but no sadness, as he watched Hubble drift away from the shuttle Tuesday after repairs were finished.
