Hubble Cargo Set For Removal

Workers this weekend will begin removing the Hubble Space Telescope cargo from shuttle Atlantis, setting the stage for the rollback of Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building possibly as early as next week, Kennedy Space Center officials say.

A telescope hardware failure discovered last weekend forced a postponement of the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission, which had been targeted for an Oct. 14 liftoff.

NASA officials said Monday that February was likely the earliest the mission could launch.

Work to remove the payload - which includes four carriers holding highly sensitive science instruments, and new guidance sensors, batteries and gyroscopes - will begin Saturday and could take several days.

The cargo will be inserted into a giant canister in the changeout room at launch pad 39A, then returned to a super-clean processing facility at the spaceport by Tuesday.

Atlantis itself could be rolled back to the 52-story assembly building on its mobile launch platform soon after the payload work is complete.

That would pave the way for Endeavour to take Atlantis' place on pad 39A.

Endeavour now sits about a mile to the north on pad 39B, where it had been on standby to serve as a rescue shuttle if Atlantis suffered catastrophic damage during its Hubble flight.

Endeavour is currently scheduled for a Nov. 16 liftoff on an International Space Station supply mission. But with the Hubble mission no longer affecting its preparation, managers are working toward a Nov. 14 launch.

IMAGE NOTE: Click on the image above to enlarge it. It shows the Hubble Space Telescope payload canister last month being lifted toward the payload changeout room on launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, with shuttle Atlantis in the background. The changeout room is the enclosed, environmentally controlled portion of the rotating service structure that supports cargo delivery to the pad and subsequent vertical installation into the shuttle’s payload bay. The payload will be removed from Atlantis and returned to the changeout room this weekend. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller