2nd Spacewalk Aids Hubble’s Cosmic Vision
Another pair of astronauts stepped out into the vacuum of space Friday night to give the Hubble Space Telescope a sharper aim to go with its new, stronger eyes.
Gregory Harbaugh and Joe Tanner, eager to get started with their mechanics’ chores, floated into shuttle Discovery’s open cargo bay nearly an hour ahead of schedule for the second spacewalk of the Hubble servicing mission.
Their job while circling Earth at 5 miles a second: to install a guidance sensor needed to lock on to astronomical targets, an electronic package for the sensor and a data recorder.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, the pilots planned to boost the shuttle into a slightly higher orbit in which Hubble will be released early next week.
During the first spacewalk the night before, Mark Lee and Steven Smith plugged two new science instruments into Hubble to expand its vision of the cosmos.
Lee and Smith turned in a by-the-book performance 370 miles above Earth to modernize the $2-billion Hubble, which was launched in 1990.
Lee and Smith will go back out tonight to install more Hubble parts. Harbaugh and Tanner will wrap up the work Sunday night during the fourth and last spacewalk.
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