Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Hubble Shut Down For Repairs

Aired March 06, 2002 - 05:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, two members of the space shuttle Columbia are busy on what's considered a very tough assignment. They're replacing a power control unit on the Hubble Space Telescope, the heart of the four story eye in the sky.

Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien, of course, has been working hard on it, also.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: I have. I have. They're a little bit delayed, but they are under way. They've been out there for about an hour and a half now. I'll tell you what, let's take a look at some live pictures. I'll explain the delay after we take a look at the live pictures. What do you say about that?

PHILLIPS: It sounds good to me.

O'BRIEN: All right, first of all, let's go about 350 miles above us. The space shuttle Columbia, Hubble Space Telescope, space walkers Rick Linnehan and John Grunsfeld there. Linnehan is this gentleman here, feet anchored onto the robotic arm of Columbia. And there's Grunsfeld. And there, right there, maybe I should draw it this way, Hubble's heart right there.

And open heart surgery is already under way. They're going to be taking out the power control unit, which many years ago the designers of the Hubble never anticipated would need to be changed out. They thought the Hubble would be up there for about 10 years, wouldn't need to change it out. The Hubble's going to be up there for about 20 years by the time all is said and done, and thus the folks on the ground think it's a good idea to change this thing out to make sure the Hubble works for the entirety of its mission.

Thirty-six tiny little connectors along the side of that black box, right along the left side of here, limited access. Remember, they're wearing those bulky gloves. A very difficult challenge, probably the hardest -- that's a pretty picture, isn't it? Take a look at those new solar arrays they put on over the past two space walks looking straight down at the planet earth as it passes by. When you're a space walker, you do have nice surroundings as you do your work.

Let me tell you a little bit about this delay now, as we look at some of the tape that was fed down from earlier. John Grunsfeld was about 10 minutes from depressurizing the airlock when suddenly and so far inexplicably his space suit started leaking. This was the mop up job that occurred afterward. The space suits are cooled by water. As a matter of fact, the astronauts wear essentially high tech long underwear. As a matter of fact, let's look at this next tape and I'll show you what it looks like, as Grunsfeld was trying to suit up in another suit.

That's the stuff that is laced, there's just tubes all through there. And that's how they keep cool in the course of a space walker. Somehow that system started leaking. When that happened, it was time to change out suits. That's what Grunsfeld did. It set them back about an hour. No problem, though. They will have no problems getting this done in theory, at least the leak is not causing any additional problems.

Back to live pictures as we can see them continuing this job. For the first time in its history, Kyra, the Hubble is silent. It has been quiet now, shut down for the first time in a dozen years for about a half an hour. And no one, no one will tell me for certain that when they turn on that switch Hubble will come back to life. So this is a dicey operation.

PHILLIPS: Oh, wow.

O'BRIEN: This is a dicey operation.

PHILLIPS: What are the odds, though?

O'BRIEN: I don't know. They won't tell me.

PHILLIPS: Wow, that's kind of scary.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it is kind of scary. So I mean that would...

PHILLIPS: Now, why did this mission get...

O'BRIEN: This would be an expensive piece of space junk, wouldn't it, if, in fact, it wouldn't turn back on?

PHILLIPS: A mere $6 billion, is that what you were telling me yesterday?

O'BRIEN: Yes, $6 billion when it gets through the whole program, yes.

PHILLIPS: Minor. Now, why has this mission been pushed to 20 years versus 10 years? What made it longer?

O'BRIEN: Well, if you'll recall, first of all, Hubble had kind of a slow start when it first came out inasmuch as it couldn't see very well. It took three years just to get it seeing clearly. So they lost some time at the front end. That allowed them to do some -- an extension. And then as they started upgrading and they realized the scientific capabilities went up dramatically as they put in new cameras -- there'll be a new camera put in tomorrow 10 times stronger than anything on here already -- they realized this thing has some scientific legs, if you will. So why not? It's up there. Let's keep it going a little longer.

PHILLIPS: And it's working.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: All right, you're going to be back the next hour to talk a little more?

O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Space walk with us.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com