Shuttle’s Record Flight Nears End

Their record mission almost over, Columbia’s astronauts nudged the shuttle into a slightly higher orbit Saturday to test techniques that may be used to move the Hubble Space Telescope.

Shuttle commander Terence “Tom” Henricks and his co-pilot, Kevin Kregel, fired tiny steering jets for 10 minutes, rocking the shuttle back and forth in a manner similar to moving a refrigerator. Columbia ended up about one mile higher, in an elliptical orbit.

The test was crucial for flight controllers planning the Hubble maintenance mission in February.

Because of atmospheric drag and future solar activity, NASA wants to raise the orbiting telescope at least five to six miles once spacewalking astronauts have installed new parts.

Flight director Jeff Bantle said Saturday’s test went as expected.

The seven U.S., French and Canadian astronauts wrapped up work in the laboratory and prepared for this morning’s landing. Fairly good weather was expected for an 5:37 a.m. PDT touchdown at Kennedy Space Center.

At 17 days, give or take a few hours, this will be the longest mission in 15 years of space shuttle flight.