Hubble Space Telescope repair ace visits New Mexico
Friday night my son and I made a trip to New Mexico Tech in Soccoro and the Enchanted Skies Star Party (ESSP) to attend a presentation by NASA astronaut Dr. John Grunsfeld. I had been trying to get to the ESSP for a number of years and seeing this opportunity on the calendar made the evening a ‘must do’ event.
The ESSP is organized by New Mexico Tech Astronomy Club and a hard-working crew including current and former staff members of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The ESSP offers a comprehensive schedule of field trips, observing opportunities and educational lectures to afford all astronomers from novice to expert a quality experience.
We arrived to the NM Tech campus in time to spend a few minutes chatting with Dr. Grunsfeld before his program started.
John Grunsfeld is a veteran shuttle astronaut with 5 flights under his belt. Three of those missions were service visits to upgrade and repair components on the Hubble Space Telescope. His most recent trip was STS-125 in May – the final mission to HST. Following the tragic loss of shuttle Columbia in 2003, the mission to HST was canceled by then NASA administrator, Sean O’Keeffe.
Cancellation of the mission generated a far-reaching and strong public outcry ranging from schoolchildren who sent in lunch money to support another mission to politicians walking the halls of the US Congress. Even though millions had already been spent on equipment, the fact that HST’s orbit is so different than the International Space Station meant that if a HST repair mission shuttle was damaged on liftoff, there would be no safe harbor for the crew.
In 2005, NASA gained a new administrator, Michael Griffin. Administrator Griffin’s strong background as a scientist and engineer brought a fresh perspective to the challenge of making a repair mission to HST possible. Under his leadership and with the dedication of thousands at NASA, this final mission was given a “GO“.
Before being named to NASA’s astronaut corps in 1992, Dr. Grunsfeld spent some time doing research in Socorro at the NRAO’s Very Large Array. His specialty was studying high energy phenomena including gamma ray sources and X-ray emissions from binary star systems. Since then, his involvement with HST has shifted his attention toward the realm of the visible spectrum, but he has no regrets stating that he feels happiest and most complete when in space.
It was refreshing to meet a guy that really spacewalks the talk!
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For More Information on the STS-125 mission to HST check out the PBS Nova Program – Hubble’s Amazing Rescue
