Hubble Telescope 'Captured' by STS-125 Space Shuttle Atlantis

by Jarrett Martineau | May 13, 2009 at 10:34 am

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Crew of the space shuttle Atlantis have 'captured' the Hubble telescope using the shuttle's robot arm.

The STS-125 mission will now attempt to repair the Hubble over the course of the next five days.

NASA's official Twitter feed announced the news on Wednesday morning.

Hubble was successfully lowered into the shuttle's cargo bay onto a support structure that can rotate and pivot for spacewalk work.

Follow live, 24/7 video coverage of the STS-125 mission on NASA TV.

Astronauts grabbed the orbiting observatory early on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since 2002. Astronaut Megan McArthur caught the schoolbus-sized telescope with the space shuttle's robot arm.

The astronauts now face five days of treacherous telescope repairs to the 19-year-old Hubble. That's because Atlantis and Hubble are flying in a 560km-high orbit, which is littered with space junk.

Nasa has another shuttle on standby at its Florida launch site, ready to rush to the rescue if Atlantis is smacked by orbital debris and severely damaged.

The shuttle was already hit by debris during its launch on Monday, but Nasa says the 53cm-stretch of nicks on the shuttle's thermal tiles is not serious.

Yesterday, crew member and astronaut Mike Massimino made internet history when he posted the first Twitter update from space. Follow his updates @Astro_Mike.

His latest update was made earlier today, just prior to Atlantis' rendezvous with the Hubble telescope.