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CNN Live At Daybreak

Astronauts Commence Hubble Spacewalk Number Four

Aired March 07, 2002 - 05:37   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go into space now with Miles O'Brien. The astronauts are doing a fourth spacewalk up there, fixing the Hubble and what happens now?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: From Bob Franken to space. Seems appropriate, doesn't it? Let's...

COSTELLO: Somehow it does.

O'BRIEN: Now, they have been out for about an hour and 37 minutes now. It's spacewalk No. 4. Carol, while you were on vacation, they began their efforts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, upgrade, improve it.

The first three spacewalks were devoted to the electrical system on Hubble. They were improved. Solar arrays were installed, as well as a power control unit in a very risky spacewalk 24 hours ago, which involved shutting down Hubble for the first time in 12 years. For four-and-a-half hours, it was cold and lifeless. But fortunately, once that new heart was put in, everything was OK. The stethoscope was put on it from the folks at NASA and all was well.

Live pictures now from NASA Television, as we like to call it. This is Mission Control in Houston, and you'll see a lot of people aren't at their seats, and the reason is they have lost communication with the Space Shuttle, which is right there over the Indian Ocean. That's the ZEO.

COSTELLO: Well, that doesn't sound good. What do you mean they have lost communication?

O'BRIEN: Well, there are little spots in the satellite capability. The ZEO as it is called, the Zone of Exclusion...

COSTELLO: Oh.

O'BRIEN: ... where they don't have telemetry, and so that's a bathroom break for the controllers. True. I kid you not.

Now, this gives you a real-time idea of where the Shuttle is at any given moment. It is flying upside down, if we were on the ground. Of course, there is no up or down in space. You sort of see it there. It's kind of tilted. And this tells you exactly where the astronaut is, or at least was when they got that last bit of telemetry as they call it, radio information from the Shuttle. They'll be hearing from them shortly. Don't worry. This is routine.

Let's look at -- first of all, let me show you the model where they are working before we go. Well, here, we can show you the close- ups too. This is a close-up inside the Hubble.

COSTELLO: Wow!

O'BRIEN: And they are working there on removing the last of the original Hubble instruments, the Faint Object Camera and using that $300,000 pistol grip tool. Actually, it's a little different tool, but it's one of the ratchet wrenches that they use. It kind of looks like air tools, doesn't it?

COSTELLO: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And basically, they are going to unscrew it, slide it out. It's designed to be removed and replaced by an astronaut. It's about the size of a telephone booth. And so is the object which is going in.

Now, let me just show you where they are real quickly, and then I'll tell you a little bit more about this camera. The solar arrays had to be twisted sort of that way to make room for them to get into this door right down here, and I'm really blinding you with this. I apologize. I'll try to do this so it's not so bright. Anyway, they get into this door. They open it up. There are two spacewalkers out there, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino. One of them, Jim, is on the end of the robotic arm, and he'll do the work pulling it in and out using that robotic arm. He kind of becomes a human socket wrench attached to the end of the 50 foot arm.

Now, let's talk about this camera. It's pretty exciting, Carol. I know you're not necessarily an astronomy buff.

COSTELLO: No, but it is fascinating.

O'BRIEN: A $75 million camera. Let's look at the pictures of this thing. And let me -- as we explain first of all exactly how they are going to go about their business. This is some animation showing what I just described to you. You know, the astronaut working at the end of the robot arm there. The new device is down in the payload bay there, and they put it in, slide that thing in.

COSTELLO: Wow!

O'BRIEN: It should be easy, right?

COSTELLO: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, actually it has gone fairly well in the past. The only trouble they have had in these kinds of things in the past is closing the doors afterwards. The doors get a little warped. So they actually have -- well, folks who do home improvement would call it a come along. They have a come along that cranks it back.

Now, there is the Advance Camera for Surveys, $75 million of your taxpayer money right there. Is it worth it? Well, take a look at this picture, which the predecessor workhorse on Hubble took. It's called the Deep Field Image. And the Deep Field Image, this is a piece of the sky, Carol, that astronomers thought was dark. They found it near the Big Dipper, as you can see here. They zoomed in on that spot right there that you just saw that they thought was dark. They trained Hubble on it for 10 days, and the image they got astounded them. Thousands and thousands of galaxies that they heretofore had not seen, and it just raises all kinds of questions about the possibility of, are we alone or not?

COSTELLO: Oh.

O'BRIEN: Now, this new camera will be 10 times better than the camera that shot this image. They'll be able to take these images faster and better resolution. So the question of, is there life elsewhere, might very well be answered using, at least in part, this camera.

COSTELLO: And exactly how old our world is, our universe.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: They have got a pretty good number on that now. Hubble has come up with about 12 billion years, give or take a billion. And, well, it's true.

COSTELLO: Good.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Give or take a billion. Those are some real years, if you're really counting.

COSTELLO: Well, it's nice to hear the mission is going well, and you are going to be live at the Johnson Space Center on Saturday morning...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: ...from 7:00 until 10:00 in the morning, right?

O'BRIEN: We're going to spend a little time. We are going to talk to the crew in space. We are going to talk to people who train the crews. We are going to take a walk through the Space Station mock up, the Shuttle mock up. And we'll show you some of these fancy power tools that they use in space, including that $300,000 cordless screwdriver. All of that will be 7:00 to 10:00. Kyra Phillips and I -- I will be there, she will be here, and it should be interesting.

COSTELLO: And viewers can call in and ask questions and everything. OK. Miles O'Brien, thank you.

O'BRIEN: No, no. E-mails. Send your e-mails now, wam@cnn.com. W-A-M.

COSTELLO: You're going to join us next hour too. O'BRIEN: OK. I'll be back.

COSTELLO: OK. So we'll get back to you.

O'BRIEN: We'll plug it again.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right.

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