U.S. astronauts working outside the space shuttle Atlantis have completed all the repair work planned for their mission to extend the service life of the Hubble Space Telescope.
In a seven-hour spacewalk Monday, John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel installed a fresh set of three - 57 kilogram batteries, replaced a sensor and applied new insulation to the outside of the telescope.
This spacewalk was the fifth and final work session of the mission. The telescope was captured and brought into the shuttle's cargo bay last week. It is expected to be released into space on Tuesday.
NASA hopes the repairs will extend the life of the telescope by at least another five years.
Hubble was launched in 1990. Shuttle crews have returned five times since then to upgrade the telescope and replace failed parts.
The current repair mission is the last that NASA intends to make to the Hubble scope. The telescope will resume making scientific observations about three weeks after the shuttle departs.
In a seven-hour spacewalk Monday, John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel installed a fresh set of three - 57 kilogram batteries, replaced a sensor and applied new insulation to the outside of the telescope.
This spacewalk was the fifth and final work session of the mission. The telescope was captured and brought into the shuttle's cargo bay last week. It is expected to be released into space on Tuesday.
NASA hopes the repairs will extend the life of the telescope by at least another five years.
Hubble was launched in 1990. Shuttle crews have returned five times since then to upgrade the telescope and replace failed parts.
The current repair mission is the last that NASA intends to make to the Hubble scope. The telescope will resume making scientific observations about three weeks after the shuttle departs.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
