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Earth by Michael Massimino of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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SM3B: Mission to Hubble
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SM3B: Mission to Hubble |
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Now complete, Servicing Mission 3B [ http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (SM3B) was really the fourth trip to the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://hubble.stsci.edu/sci.d.tech/nuts_.and._bolts/ ], as the originally planned mission 3 was split [ http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov/faq.html ] into two parts. Falling around [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf3-2.html ] planet Earth, about 320 nautical [ http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/sea.htm ] miles above the surface, the 13.2 meter long Great Observatory [ http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/ Curriculum.Support/Technology/Models/ NASA's.Great.Observatories.Kit/.index.html ] is pictured [ http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/images/ mission10.html ] here in Space Shuttle Columbia's payload bay on March 5. Spacesuited [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981217.html ] astronaut Michael Massimino works under Hubble's "hood" while poised at the end of Columbia's Remote Manipulator System or robotic arm [ http://collections.ic.gc.ca/satellites/english/canadian/ q8.html ]. Columbia's arm extends from the picture's right hand edge and a folded solar panel rests horizontally above Massimino's position. Dramatic backlighting is provided by a smiling sunlit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000115.html ] crescent of Earth's atmosphere. SM3B supplied Hubble with a new camera, and substantial power and instrument [ http://hubble.stsci.edu/sci.d.tech/nuts_.and._bolts/ instruments/ ] upgrades which are presently being turned on and prepared for operation. The next Hubble [ http://hubble.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] service call, SM4, is planned for 2004 [ http://cos.colorado.edu/cos/ ]. |
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