STS-103 MISSION AND CREW BRIEFING SCRIPT

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"The Hubble Space Telescope has amazed and enlightened us for the past decade with visions of our solar system and far reaches of the cosmos. Hubble was temporarily shut down in November because of equipment failure. STS-103 - our upcoming mission aboard Discovery - will repair and upgrade Hubble, allowing the observatory to continue to expand our understanding of the universe into the new millenium."

Hubble is a cooperative venture of NASA and the European Space Agency. Thanks to that partnership we have seen both stars and scientific theories created and destroyed during the past decade. Hubble has been able to revolutionize astronomy because of its on-orbit vantage point.

 
Slide 1 (Star death)

Slide 2 (Distant galaxies)

This deep field view is one of Hubble's "greatest hits." It shows an area of the sky equivalent to the size of Franklin Roosevelt's eye on a U.S. dime held at arm's length. Before Hubble looked more closely, it was just an unremarkable area of space near the Big Dipper with only a couple of stars known to be there. The Hubble stared at that small portion of sky for ten days. This picture is what Hubble saw: nearly 1,500 galaxies. Some of them may be 10 billion light-years away.

Hubble has observed more than 13,000 astronomical targets since it was launched almost ten years ago. Astronomers using Hubble’s data have published more than 2,400 scientific papers. And there’s more to come. Hubble is expected to function for about ten more years. STS-103 Commander Curtis Brown Jr. Had this to say about the observatory:

     
Slide 3 (Gaseous pillars)

Video 2 (Curt Brown)

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"What Hubble allows us to do is look out into these vast distances and try to understand our universe, understand what space is all about, whether that means finding new and unbelievable things that we haven’t imagined, or getting more data on things that we already know about. Once we complete that database, or build that database, hopefully, we as humans can understand where we fit in this vastness of space, which after looking out into deep space and seeing all the stars, and there are clusters of stars that are so thick they look like clouds here on Earth - I mean it’s just amazing."

Hubble is serviced periodically to replace worn parts and to install upgraded ones. It’s the first observatory designed for extensive maintenance on orbit. Features such as handrails and foot restraints built into the observatory help astronauts work on Hubble from the shuttle’s cargo bay.

Slide 4 (Astronaut servicing Hubble)

Slide 5 (STS-103 astronauts)

STS-103 - the Third Hubble Servicing Mission - originally was scheduled for June, but after the third of Hubble's six gyroscopes failed, STS-103 was rescheduled and split into two separate missions, the first to fly as soon as possible. The second will follow in 2001. Three working gyroscopes are needed to meet the telescope’s precise pointing requirements. When a fourth gyroscope failed in November, Hubble was shut down temporarily.

"Telescope insulation that has degraded will be replaced. The insulation is necessary to control the internal temperature on Hubble."

Video 3 (On-orbit Hubble animation)

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Slide 6 (Astronauts during training)

To prepare for STS-103, the seven-member Discovery crew trained extensively. Although there has been much cross training, each crew member has trained for specific tasks.

Training for mission commander Brown and pilot Kelly focused on rendezvous and proximity operations, such as capture and release of the telescope. The two are pictured training at Kennedy Space Center during the Crew Equipment Interface Test.

Slide 7 (Brown and Kelly in clean room suits)

Slide 8 (Brown)

Brown has served as Mission Commander on two previous Shuttle missions and as pilot on three others. From Elizabethtown, North Carolina, Brown received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Academy in 1978.

A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Brown served as an A-10 and F-16 test pilot before joining NASA. Brown has logged more than 6,000 hours flight time in jet aircraft and more than 1,190 hours in space since. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1987.

Slide 9 (Brown in aircraft)

Slide 10 (Kelly)

Pilot Scott Kelly is a first-time flier aboard the space shuttle. From Orange, New Jersey, Kelly was awarded a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College in 1987. He received a master of science degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1996.

Kelly, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, was first designated as a naval aviator in July of 1989 and then completed training to become a test pilot in June 1994. He has logged more than 2,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft and has more than 250 carrier landings. Kelly joined the astronaut program in August 1996. He had this to say about his role as pilot:

Slide 11 (Kelly)

 
Video 4 (Kelly)

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"Once we get on orbit, the pilot assists the Commander with the rendezvous of Hubble, the grapple of the telescope, and then assists in monitoring all the EVA operations we do and many other things that occur."

The five Mission Specialists also received specific training for the Third Hubble Servicing Mission. Mission Specialists Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld and Nicollier trained for multiple spacewalks. Spacewalks are officially called E-V-As, or extravehicular activities.

Slide 12 (Mission Specialists working with payload)

 
Slide 13 (Astronaut training in tank)

To train for spacewalks, pressure-suited astronauts practice working with their equipment in Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. The underwater laboratory creates the closest thing on Earth to weightlessness. Underwater mockups enabled the astronauts to practice each aspect of the servicing mission. Grunsfeld had this to say about training in his pressure suit:

"The second EVA that I’ll do, which is on our third spacewalk of the mission, I’ll come out and again I’ll start on the robotic arm. And there’s three main tasks that I have that are all very hand-intensive, so I’ve been doing a lot of arm training to strengthen my forearms, and it’s very much a task which in the spacesuit, you’re like the Michelin Man. It’s inflated and there’s a vacuum outside, and every time you close your hands you have to work against the suit, so it’s a very tiring thing just to move your hands."

Video 5 (Grunsfeld)

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Slide 14 (Smith on orbit)

When it comes to spacewalks and servicing Hubble, payload commander Steven Smith is a veteran. He performed multiple spacewalks during STS-82, the Second Hubble Servicing Mission. He is pictured on orbit during that mission. Smith had this to say about his role coaching his crewmates:

"I’m Mission Specialist No. 1. I’m kind of the lead spacewalker, so based on my STS-82 experience, where I did three spacewalks on Hubble. I’m kind of bringing the spacewalkers together for this flight, in which we have a planned four spacewalks. It’s been very helpful having that experience; I hope I haven’t overwhelmed my crewmates with knowledge from that flight, but there has been certainly some things we learned on STS-82 that have been helpful in organizing the spacewalks and payload operations for this flight."

Video 6 (Smith)

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Slide 15 (Smith)

Smith also flew on STS-68. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but considers San Jose, California, to be his hometown. Smith received both bachelor and master of science degrees in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration, all from Stanford University. He was a payload officer with NASA before being selected as an astronaut candidate in March 1992.

Here mission specialist Michael Foale trains for an E-V-A using virtual reality equipment. Foale will be making his fifth space flight after previously accumulating more than 160 days in space, including a four-month stay on the Russian space station, Mir. He was a mission specialist on STS-45, STS-56 and STS-63. Even after all his space flight experience, Foale is looking forward to something new and different on the upcoming mission.

Slide 16 (Foale, training shot)

   
Video 7 (Foale)

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"I have also always known as an astronaut that this telescope is high compared to where we normally go in the Space Shuttle. It’s about twice the altitute that the Space Shuttle normally flies at and the altitude of the telescope is of the order of 310 nautical miles or about roughly 350 statute miles. And so I know that the Earth will look a bit more round, it’ll look a bit more like the ball that the Apollo astronauts showed us that captivated me when I was a boy. So I want to go high, I want to see the Earth high, and I’ve always wanted to be on a Hubble fight because is goes high, it goes about as high as a Shuttle can go."

Foale was born in Louth, England, but considers Cambridge to be his hometown. He attended the University of Cambridge, Queens’ College, receiving a bachelor of arts degree in physics, with first-class honors, in 1978. He completed his doctorate in laboratory astrophysics at Cambridge in 1982. Before Foale was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1987, he was a payload officer in the mission control center at Johnson Space Center.

Slide 17 (Foale)

Slide 18 (Grunsfeld)

Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld has flown on two previous Shuttle missions, including STS-81 and STS-67, which was the second flight of the Astro Observatory, a complement of three telescopes.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Grunsfeld received a bachelor of science degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. He was awarded a master of science degree and a doctor of philosophy degree in physics from the University of Chicago in 1984 and 1988, respectively. After holding numerous academic positions and performing research in various areas of astrophysics, Grunsfeld started his astronaut training in August 1992.

Slide 19 (Grunsfeld)

Slide 20 (Nicollier)

Mission specialist Claude Nicollier will be making his fourth space flight. His previous shuttle missions include STS-46, STS- 75 and STS-61, the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Nicollier is looking forward to returning to work on Hubble.

"Well, I feel very privileged to be part of this mission and when my nomination was announced I was really very, very happy to be selected for this mission. Uh, Hubble is very close to my heart and going back to Hubble, because I was there once already in 1993 is really a great privilege for me."

Video 8 (Nicollier)

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Slide 21 (Nicollier, suiting up)

Nicollier is a native of Vevey, Switzerland, and is a captain in the Swiss air force. He received a bachelor of science degree in physics from the University of Lausanne in 1970, and a master of science degree in astrophysics from the University of Geneva in 1975. Nicollier was selected as a European Space Agency astronaut in 1978, and, under an agreement between NASA and the European Space Agency, he joined the NASA astronaut candidates selected in May 1980.

In addition to this team of spacewalkers is Mission Specialist Jean-Francois Clervoy, the principal operator of the robotic arm. Clervoy practiced specifically for capture and redeployment of the telescope, rotation and pivoting of the telescope on the flight support system, and related contingencies.

Slide 22 (Clervoy)

Slide 23 (Clervoy, on orbit)

Clervoy, a European Space Agency astronaut, has flown on two other Space Shuttle Missions, STS-66 and STS-84. Here he is pictured on orbit during STS-66. From Toulouse, France, Clervoy received his baccalauréat from Collège Militaire de Saint Cyr L’ Ecole in 1976, and graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, in 1981. Clervoy trained in Star City, Moscow, on the Soyuz and Mir systems in 1991, and was selected as an ESA astronaut in 1992. Clervoy had this to say about the importance of the mission:

"And by keeping the telescope alive, all the investment on that instruments, and the investments on all the research community on the ground is, is valid and is rewarding."

Video 9 (Clervoy)

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Slide 24 (STS-103 mission patch)

Thanks to the work of the STS-103 astronauts and thousands of space program employees on the ground, Hubble should be up and running again soon. The observatory then will be able to peer deep into the cosmos to solve even greater mysteries during the coming decade.

 

Curator: Dennis Armstrong (dennis.armstrong-1@ksc.nasa.gov)

A service of the NASA/Kennedy Space Center,

Roy D. Bridges, Jr., Director.

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