By the year 2002, Hubble had done more than make a name for itself.
Hubble had changed how we see the very fabric of the universe around us.
Galaxies became familiar neighborhoods to explore, far off planets felt like old friends,
and nebulas, a beautiful sight to behold.
And with Servicing Mission 4 coming up quickly, the excitement was almost palpable
for the new wonders Hubble was about to uncover with its state of the art upgrades.
That was, until Servicing Mission 4 was... canceled.
Hubble’s Servicing Mission 4, originally planned for the year 2004, was designed to bring Hubble’s
scientific equipment to its peak performance.
This would ensure Hubble would stay operational as long as possible, since this would be the
last servicing mission.
However, in the early stages of preparing for this important mission, disaster struck.
"The loss of this valiant crew is something we will never be able to get over, and
certainly the families of all of them. We have assured, we will do everything, everything
we can possibly do to guarantee that they work their way through this horrific tragedy."
The world was shocked after the brave crew on Space Shuttle Columbia was lost upon re-entry
through Earth’s atmosphere on its way home.
Soon after, former NASA Administrator, Sean O'Keefe, canceled Hubble’s final servicing
mission over concerns about the safety of Hubble's servicing astronauts.
NASA tried to keep the spirit of Hubble alive by switching to an
entirely remote robotic servicing mission,
but concluded that it would be too expensive and would not be developed in time to be useful
to Hubble before it would become non-operational.
"Just under three years ago, NASA had to announce a very troubling decision, that decision being
to cancel shuttle Servicing Mission 4 for the Hubble Space Telescope. And today I am
here to announce a much more pleasant decision on behalf of the agency. We are going to add
a shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope to the shuttle's manifest to
be flown before it retires."
The news everybody was waiting for. Servicing Mission 4 was reinstated, and more ready than ever.
"It's a great day to go fly, it's a great mission, good luck, Godspeed, and we'll see you back here in about 11 days."
Servicing Mission 4 was going to be one of Hubble’s most ambitious missions to date.
Right away, the astronauts of Servicing Mission 4 were tasked with installing a brand-new
instrument into Hubble: Wide Field Camera Three.
But this instrument didn’t go in without a fight.
One singular bolt stood in the way of installing this instrument.
"Yep, I think I got it! It turned! It definitely turned!"
This new panchromatic camera would allow astronomers to better understand galaxy evolution, dark
matter, and dark energy.
Next up to bat was installing another new instrument: the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
This would be the most sensitive spectrograph ever flown on Hubble, allowing us to peer even
further into the ultraviolet spectrum.
But the punches Hubble threw weren’t finished yet.
Both the Advanced Camera for Surveys, ACS, and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, STIS,
needed to be repaired following recent failures. But these instruments weren't designed to be repaired
in space! Astronauts had to open up both instruments and perform “surgery” to fix them.
The ACS repair went well, but when it came time to operate on STIS, Hubble threw another hurdle
in the way. Before astronauts could repair STIS, they needed to remove a handrail.
But a screw on that handrail got stripped, and it wouldn’t come off.
After some quick thinking by engineers on the ground, astronaut Mike Massimino was able
to use brute force to pull the handrail off and access STIS.
"It’s off! Disposal bag, please."
An unconventional, yet effective method of getting the job done,
and the STIS repair was a success.
Not only that, the astronauts of Serving Mission 4 replaced gyroscopes, batteries, a
failed computer, installed new thermal blankets, and a soft-capture mechanism to allow for a future
robotic spacecraft to dock with Hubble and send it to its final resting place when its
mission is over.
Servicing Mission 4 made Hubble better than it ever had been before.
And it wouldn’t be without the crews of people in space
and on the ground that allowed for that dream to become a reality.
And because of those people, to this day, Hubble continues to expand our knowledge
and wonder about the universe surrounding us.
The Hubble Space Telescope, a piece of engineering and astronomical majesty,
once again released to uncover the secrets of the universe for many years to come.
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