Hubble Space Telescope captured
2009-05-13 19:45
Cape Canaveral - The Atlantis astronauts have captured the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronauts grabbed the orbiting observatory early on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since 2002. Astronaut Megan McArthur caught the schoolbus-sized telescope with the space shuttle's robot arm.
The astronauts now face five days of treacherous telescope repairs to the 19-year-old Hubble. That's because Atlantis and Hubble are flying in a 560km-high orbit, which is littered with space junk.
Nasa has another shuttle on standby at its Florida launch site, ready to rush to the rescue if Atlantis is smacked by orbital debris and severely damaged.
The shuttle was already hit by debris during its launch on Monday, but Nasa says the 53cm-stretch of nicks on the shuttle's thermal tiles is not serious.
- AP