Space Shuttle Atlantis Ready for Hubble Repair Mission

NASA said all systems are a go for the final Shuttle Mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day mission astronauts will perform five spacewalks to install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones, and perform component replacements that should keep the telescope operational until 2014 at least.

Scott Altman will take command of the mission and retired Navy Captain Gregory C Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists rounding out the crew are: veteran spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino, and first-time space fliers Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur.

In addition to the originally scheduled work, Atlantis also will carry a replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit for Hubble. Astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, removing the one that stopped working on Sept. 27, 2008, delaying the servicing mission until the replacement was ready.

Friday afternoon, the countdown to launch began as the seven astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.

"Hello Florida! It's great to be here at last!" Commander Scott Altman told a crowd of journalists gathered at the runway. "It's been a long road to get here, and we're all thrilled." After expressing thanks to the teams who trained them and prepared the space shuttles and hardware for the Hubble mission, he concluded with a rousing, "We are ready. Let's launch Atlantis!"

In a morning briefing, NASA Test Director Jeremy Graeber reported, "All of the systems are in great shape." Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters gave only a 20 percent chance of weather interfering with the launch.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is set to take off at 2:01 PM EDT on May 11th.