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CNN Saturday Morning News
Columbia Completes Week-Long Repairs on Hubble
Aired March 09, 2002 - 07:19 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: I guess we can call it a Hubble-a- thon. That's a safe way to put it. About two hours ago, the crew of the shuttle Columbia released the Hubble space telescope after completing a week of repairs.
CNN's Miles O'Brien is going to tell us about the whole fix-it list now. He's live at Johnson Space Center. Miles, are you with us still? There you are. Oh, my goodness...
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Kyra, here I am, I'm...
PHILLIPS: I want to see you put the space -- the suit on, that's what I want to see.
O'BRIEN: Well, we're working on that right now. I don't know if that's going to happen. There are some logistical concerns there. It is a $14 million suit, after all, and I don't know if I can be trusted with this.
I got to point out something. You hear that bell? Can you hear it?
PHILLIPS: Yes, what is that? Is it time for school?
O'BRIEN: That's a fire alarm.
PHILLIPS: Oh, OK, that's not good.
O'BRIEN: It tells us we have to evacuate the building. We got security here. We're going to go dust for fingerprints on the fire alarm thing, whoever pulled the switch. We think it might be somebody with the Fox News Channel. We're going to get into that a little later on.
We're holding our ground for now, and we're going to do a simulated evacuation later if necessary.
But let me just tell you, we -- a couple hours ago, the space shuttle Columbia released the Hubble space telescope after a week of work on it. Everything went off without a hitch. It capped a great week in space for the crew. They had a very arduous set of spacewalks using these suits, really, to their maximum, if you will.
These are seven-layer suits, $14 million. They call it the EMU, the extravehicular mobility unit.
By the way, I'm looking at you on a very small, we call it a lipstick camera. This is kind of close quarters. I'm inside what's called the Quest air lock. This is a pretty good replica of what is on the International Space Station right now. And this is where all the suits are set up and filled up and ready for a spacewalk on board that space station. They actually sit in racks just like this.
In any case, during the course of this past week the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia conducted five spacewalks in as many days, and they left the Hubble with better electrical power, better pointing system, a much stronger camera, and a resuscitated one. It was a good week in all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): The week of walks began with wings, solar wings. Hubble's nine-year-old models had lost some oomph and were vibrating in the wild temperature swings of low earth orbit. Vibrations are the enemy of clear images.
During a pair of nearly identical spacewalks, the teams of John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan and Jim Newman and Mike Massimino removed and stowed the old solar arrays, which rolled up like window shades. They attached some new rigid arrays that are smaller yet able to produce more electricity. And they replaced a balky gyroscope.
That set the stage for one of the tensest moments for Hubbleistas since the mission to correct the telescope's blurry vision in 1993.
UNIDENTIFIED ASTRONAUT: I'll try to get in as close as I can with good clearances on the left and center.
O'BRIEN: For the first time since it was launched, Hubble was turned off for four and a half hours while Grunsfeld and Linnehan swapped out the telescope's power control unit. The heart transplant was a success, and Hubble was left with ample power to run its instruments during what scientists hope will be another eight years in orbit.
With Hubble's health improved, astronauts focused on its scientific well-being. The spacewalkers installed a new instrument with some great potential. The Advanced Camera for Surveys is 10 times more powerful than the current workhorse on Hubble, which gets the photo credit for images of the most distant galaxies ever seen. The new camera is likely to extend Hubble's reach even deeper into the cosmos.
The spacewalkers also worked to bring an idle Hubble instrument back on-line.
UNIDENTIFIED ASTRONAUT: Looks like a big surfboard, John.
O'BRIEN: The NICMOS infrared camera operates at very low temperatures, 100 degrees below 0 Celsius. So when its cooling system failed three years ago, the instrument was shut down. The astronauts installed a new $21 million cooler that should allow astronomers to see the universe through infrared-colored glasses.
NASA had reason to be rosy after watching this mission unfold. Hubble, once a laughingstock, is rewriting the astronomy textbooks, defining the age and expansion of the universe, spotting black holes, seeing stars at their birth and death.
Scientists say Hubble is at the vanguard of a golden age of astronomy, and they are thanking their lucky stars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: And we are thanking our lucky stars here in Building Nine of the Johnson Space Center. That fire alarm has ceased going, and we can speak to you without having to talk over the din, and we appreciate that.
Coming up in just a few minutes on our program, a little bit after the 7:30 -- Oh, there goes the bell again -- Oh, just briefly. We're going to be joined in the Quest airlock here -- this is an exact replica of the airlock on the space station -- we're going to be joined by an expert who trains astronauts on how to do spacewalks.
Jerry Miller is his name. He's been at NASA for about 20 years now, he knows a little something about spacewalks, about this suit, and about how this room works in space. So we want you to stay with us for that -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, Jerry's not the only one who knows a lot about space. You know, I'm going to take this moment to brag just a bit, Miles. And the only -- not the only reason -- that you are there, of course, is to do this coverage for us, but you received a wonderful award last night, a very prestigious award, one that I understand the last recipient was Walter Cronkite.
O'BRIEN: You know, it's funny, while you were saying that, producer Alec Rang (ph) got in my ear and said, "Look humble." It's hard to look humble. I got the Rotary National Achievement -- National Award for Space Achievement, Space Communicator Award. And yes, the last person to receive that award was Walter Cronkite, and...
PHILLIPS: A good friend of yours, by the way.
O'BRIEN: Well, I did have the good fortune to work with him, where I got a great opportunity to ask him a lot of important questions like, "Little more cream in that coffee, Mr. Cronkite?" You know, that kind of stuff.
PHILLIPS: Can I run you your script?
O'BRIEN: And so I'm -- yes, exactly. "Mr. Cronkite, which way would you like to go?"
And so it really -- it was a great honor, it really was, and it was a great evening.
Oh, it just so happens... PHILLIPS: Do you have it with you?
O'BRIEN: ... look at this, I don't know -- I do have it. This is -- I don't know if you can get this...
PHILLIPS: Put it up against your dark jacket, because it's see- through.
O'BRIEN: Yes, there we go. It says...
PHILLIPS: There you go.
O'BRIEN: ... basically, "For innovation, fairness, and accuracy in bringing the stories to the 21st -- of the 21st century space program to viewers around the world."
It was really a great honor, and it was wonderful. I was really -- you know, that -- those kinds of words, a reporter could ask for no better.
So enough tooting my own horn. It was a great honor, and I'm really pleased to receive it, and be in such great company as with Walter Cronkite.
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. Well, you two are of definite equal stature, Miles. Thank you so much...
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
PHILLIPS: ... we're so proud of you, very proud of you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll see you coming up a little later in the hour.
O'BRIEN: All right.
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