The Final Visit to the
Hubble Space
Telescope
Please publish on May 8 2009
Next week's launch of
the Space
Shuttle from the Kennedy Space Center will carry
astronauts to the Hubble Space Telescope for their
final visit. This mission was previously cancelled when the
Shuttle Columbia was lost in 2002. Careful preparations has
allowed
NASA to resume this mission. One of these measures is to have
a rescue Shuttle on standby on the other launch pad, and it has led to
the rare sight of two Shuttles on the two launch pads.
Due to the delay, there has been ample time to prepare for this
mission. The entire
team, from the astronauts, to the people that build the hardware are
ready. One of these is Edward Cheung, who was
born and raised in San Nicolas. Edward has been working on
the
Hubble Project since 1996, and this marks his fifth Hubble
mission. On this mission, he has had many roles, including
Electrical Lead on Wide Field Camera III (WFC3). This new
imaging
camera will improve Hubble's discovery factor by ten times, and will
offer up unbelievable new images of our Universe.
The original date for this mission was in October 2008. Only
two
weeks before launch, Hubble experienced a critical failure of its
Science Data Handling Computer. This caused the project to
switch
to the backup unit. Although the prime unit has operated for
18
years, NASA decided that it was not prudent to have Hubble fly the
remaining years without a backup. It was decided to refurbish
a
spare unit that was on the ground, and delay the mission so that it
could be included. Edward was given the responsibility to
lead
the electrical effort to bring this new unit on line.
Along with these major items, Edward also worked on two smaller parts
of the mission. These were the repair of the Advanced Camera
for
Survey, and the Telemetry Module. His role after launch will
be
at the Johnson
Space Center in one of the Flight Control Rooms. The team
that
built the hardware will be on hand to help with the installation, and
any problems that may occur during the checkout phase.
At the launch, Edward will be joined by his wife and kids, and also Mr.
Jan Poets is expected to be there with his camera crew.
Edward
welcomes
questions about this mission, especially from school-aged children from
Aruba. Please write to him at ed@edcheung.com
Launch is scheduled for 2pm on May 11, 2009
Possible images for this story
(full resolution version available for most of these)
Building WFC3
Where WFC3 will be
installed
Testing the Science Data Computer
Astronaut training
With the flag on the pad
Shuttle pad at night with Canister
lift
At the launch pad with Atlantis
In the commander's chair
With a space suit helmet
Links to hardware that Edward built for this mission
Wide Field Camera III
Science Data Computer
Telemetry Module
Links to Edward's mission update pages
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