5/11/09 ~ 2:01:56pm
Homepage Launch Photos
End of an era. The Space Shuttle Atlantis blasts off on mission STS-125, the final mission to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, one of NASA's greatest legacies and triumphs. Canceled in the wake of the Columbia tragedy and then reinstated, the only mission not to go to the ISS post-accident will see seven astronauts undertake one of the most ambitious shuttle missions in history, with five spacewalks to install new and replace old components on Hubble. It will be the closing chapter in one of the original purposes of the shuttle. As a precaution, and for the final time, a second shuttle was placed on the neighboring Pad 39B, ready to launch within a week if an emergency arises; unlike the ISS, there is no safe-haven at the telescope.
2008 rollout to pad The Hubble payloads Atlantis at sunrise
STS-125/126 two shuttles on the pad 2009 rollout
STS-125/127 Two shuttles on the pad for last time
RSS rollback, IMAX cam & sunset 747 SCA returns
<--- STS-119 STS-127 --->
