By Marc S. Posner
SOAR Magazine

Atlantis and the seven-member crew returned home to California this morning, ending a 13-day mission that at one point was considered too risky to conduct. In the wake of the 2003 Columbia accident this mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope was cancelled, in part because astronauts wouldn’t have the International Space Station to use as a lifeboat.

The crew, however, came through with flying colors on this final mission to Hubble — and the last to go somewhere other than the space station. Four astronauts — Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Andrew Feustel — combined for five spacewalks to fit the observatory with replacement instruments, batteries and gyroscopes.

“Welcome home from a very successful mission … giving Hubble a new pair of eyes,” the crew was greeted via radio from mission control.

Already a crown jewel of the space agency, the work enhanced Hubble, ensuring cutting-edge science will continue. Astronauts installed advanced technology that improves the telescope’s discovery power by 10 to 70 times. The work resulted in six working, complementary science instruments with new capabilities, and an extended operational lifespan through at least 2014.

After 197 orbits, nearly 5.3 million miles and two extra days in orbit (because of poor weather in Florida), Atlantis crossed the California coast near Santa Barbara before making a 200-degree counter-clockwise turn and gliding down from the northeast onto Runway 22 at Edwards under the manual control of Commander Scott Altman.

Today’s landing is the 53rd flight of the shuttle program’s 126 missions to conclude in California, with the most-recent coming on November 30, 2008. STS-125 was the 30th flight for Atlantis and the second for 2009.

Retired Navy Capt. Gregory C. Johnson piloted the mission. Mission specialists included veteran spacewalkers Grunsfeld and Massimino, along with first-time space fliers Feustel and Good. Mission specialist K. Megan McArthur also made her first flight.

Altman, a native of Pekin, Ill., made his fourth space flight and his second trip to Hubble. He commanded the STS-109 Hubble servicing mission in 2002. He served as pilot of STS-90 in 1998 and STS-106 in 2000. Johnson, a Seattle native and former Navy test pilot and NASA research pilot, was selected as an astronaut in 1998. This was his first space flight.

Chicago native Grunsfeld, an astronomer, made his third trip to Hubble and his fifth space flight. He performed a total of five spacewalks to service the telescope on STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 in 2002. He also flew on STS-67 in 1995 and STS-81 in 1997. Massimino, from Franklin Square, N.Y., made his second trip to Hubble and his second space flight. He performed two spacewalks to service the telescope during the STS-109 mission in 2002.

Feustel, Good, and McArthur were each selected as astronauts in 2000. Feustel, a native of Lake Orion, Mich., was an exploration geophysicist in the petroleum industry at the time of his selection by NASA. Good is from Broadview Heights, Ohio, and is an Air Force colonel, weapons systems officer and graduate of the Air Force Test Pilot School, having logged more than 2,100 hours in 30 different types of aircraft. McArthur, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, considers California her home state. She has a doctorate in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California-San Diego.

With shuttle Endeavour poised at its side for a potential rescue mission, Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 11 and arrived at Hubble two days later. Hubble was returned to explore the heavens on May 19 as Atlantis departed for the final time.

Following the loss of Columbia in February, 2003, NASA originally cancelled the Hubble servicing mission, saying it was too risky to fly to a destination other than the International Space Station, where the astronauts could find a safe haven if similar damage to the shuttle had happened during launch or ascent, as was the case with Columbia. Had inspections of the heat shield on this flight revealed worrisome damage, NASA would have launched Endeavour on a rescue mission, dubbed STS-400. With that threat now passed, Endeavour is being readied for its next flight, STS-127.

NASA will begin prepping Atlantis for the trans-continental trip back to Florida. The astronauts will fly to Houston.

STS-125 was referred to as Servicing Mission 4 (SM-4), although it is technically the fifth serving flight to the telescope.

Among Hubble’s greatest discoveries: determining the age of the universe (13.7 billion years); finding that virtually all major galaxies have black holes at their center; discovering that the process of planetary formation is relatively common; detecting first ever organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star; and providing evidence that the speed at which the universe is expanding is accelerating–caused by an unknown
force that makes up more than 75 percent of the universe.

The farthest objects Hubble has seen are galaxies more than 12 billion light years away.

Each Hubble orbit takes 96 minutes. Its speed is about 5 miles per second.

Pointing Hubble and locking onto distant celestial objects is equivalent to holding a laser light steady on a dime that is 200 miles away.