Hubble Payload Leaves Launch Pad

Now, only Atlantis remains to be moved off launch pad 39A.

This morning, the suite of Hubble Space Telescope science instruments and repair equipment that the shuttle was expected to launch this month was transported from the pad.

The move occurred as Hubble program managers in Maryland began an effort to transfer the telescope's science data readings to backup computers, hoping to fix the problem that forced postponement of Atlantis' launch until at least February.

After a day's delay because of strong winds off Cape Canaveral, the 65-foot long canister holding the Hubble mission's four cargo carriers - shown above to the left of the shuttle - was rolled to Kennedy Space Center's Canister Rotation Facility.

In the facility's 142-foot high bay, the canister this afternoon will be lowered into a horizontal position. By tonight, it will be moved into the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, a high level clean room facility where the sensitive cargo will be unpacked from the canister Thursday and Friday.

The cargo will be double bagged in protective covers until the STS-125 mission resumes. Only the telescope's new batteries and the 700-pund IMAX camera set up to film the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission will be removed.

The batteries will be discharged and shipped back to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for maintenance. The camera's film - the world's longest roll of motion picture film at 5,400 feet, according to producers - will be removed in a dark room and stored.

Atlantis is scheduled to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Monday. Endeavour will take its place on pad 39A five days later, moving from pad 39B.

NOTE ON IMAGES: Click on the images to enlarge them, and again to make them even bigger. Above, after transfer of space shuttle Atlantis’ payload on launch pad 39A, the payload canister, at left, is lowered toward the transporter below. The red umbilical lines keep the payload in an environmentally controlled environment. Below, the payload canister is shown on Sept. 20 being moved out of the Canister Rotation Facility and heading for pad 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett and Troy Cryder.