NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

STS-125

Launch Time
Mon May 11, 2009 18:01 UTC

The last Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

Rocket

Space Shuttle Atlantis
NASA
Status: Retired
Price: $450.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 30,250 kN
Payload to LEO: 27,500 kg
Payload to GTO: 3,810 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 2
Rocket Height: 56.1 m

Vehicles

Edwards Runway 22

OV-104

Flight #30
459 day turnaround

Mission Details

STS-125

STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

Space Shuttle Atlantis carried two new instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan.

Total Mass: 13,104.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA

Stats

2009

27th orbital launch attempt

Space Shuttle

126th mission
2nd mission of 2009
124th successful mission
13th consecutive successful mission