Mission and Crew

Shuttle Mission: STS-109
Orbiter: Columbia
March 1, 2002

"Every few years, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope gets a visit from its Earthly caretakers. That next visit is about to happen with the launch of Mission STS-109 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. A team of seven astronauts has trained extensively for a year and is now ready to install a full manifest of new equipment on the orbiting telescope during five spacewalks. This includes replacing the current camera on Hubble with the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The new Advanced Camera for Surveys will expand Hubble's capabilities to see up to twenty times farther into the universe than has been possible in the past. This powerful new camera has a field of view twice the size of Hubble's current surveyor and will reveal areas of our universe that have never before been seen.

Hubble's current Solar Arrays will be replaced with the updated Solar Array 3 that are one-third smaller in size yet more efficient and will help reduce the effects of atmospheric drag on the telescope.

From the beginning, Hubble was designed to be modular and astronaut-friendly. This design has allowed NASA to equip the orbiting telescope with new, state-of-the-art scientific instruments that incorporate the latest technology and give the telescope exciting new capabilities with each servicing mission.

Beginning with the launch of Hubble from Space Shuttle Discovery on Mission STS-31 in April 1990, and continuing with subsequent servicing missions in December 1993, February 1997 and December 1999, our view of the universe continues to be enhanced and expanded. And the Hubble Space Telescope story continues."

STS-109 Crew

Commander
Scott D. Altman

Pilot
Duane G. Carey

Payload Commander
John M. Grunsfeld

Mission Specialist
Nancy J.
Currie

Mission Specialist
James H.
Newman

Mission Specialist
Richard M. Linnehan

Mission
Specialist
Michael J. Massimino

Crew Seating Designation

Did You Know?

A detailed Mission & Crew Briefing is available online! Caution: This page contains photos and videos that may be difficult for visitors with low speed modems to access. This is particularly true during periods of high traffic loads on our servers (such as during the launch day countdown). It is therefore recommended that you attempt to view this page at a later time....

STS-109 photos are online (Note: This is a graphic-intensive site and may be difficult to view with low speed modems or when this web site receives heavy traffic loads).

Image of astronauts servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronauts servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.

Live Launch Coverage | Previous Events | Payloads
Crew EVA

Page Last Revised	Page & Curator Information
March 12, 2003	Online coverage by: Dennis Armstrong (NASA), Anna Heiney (IDI) Web Development: Lynda Warnock & Debbie Barton (FDC) Video Production: Chris Chamberland (Photobition) Countdown Clock by: Jim Fitzgerald (FDC) NASA Official: Dennis Armstrong (Dennis.Armstrong-1@ksc.nasa.gov) A Service of the NASA/Kennedy Space Center Roy D. Bridges, Director