Hubble Payload Removal Under Way

The cargo that NASA hoped to launch to the Hubble Space Telescope next week instead is being removed from shuttle Atlantis today.

A computer failure on the orbiting observatory last week forced the Oct. 14 repair mission's postponement until February at the earliest, and the payload must now be returned to storage in a super-clean facility.

It's the first time in about two years that a payload has been removed from a shuttle, Kennedy Space Center officials say.

This morning, space center workers maneuvered a set of telescoping arms called the Payload Ground Handling Mechanism into the shuttle's payload bay. They are undoing latches fastening the Hubble cargo's four carriers into the orbiter, with a total of 16 connection points.

By late tonight, the payload will have been pulled back into the "changeout" room in the launch pad's Rotating Service Structure, where it will be sealed in protective bags.

Once it is ready for transportation, the payload on Monday will be placed in a giant canister, removed from the launch pad and rotated to a horizontal position.

Next Tuesday, the highly sensitive science instruments and repair equipment will be back in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where most of it will be kept in "dwell" mode until the mission is ready to fly next year.

New batteries that astronauts were to install on the telescope will be shipped back to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, home of the Hubble program, until needed again.

With its payload removed, Atlantis will be prepared to return to the spaceport's 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building on Oct. 20.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the image. On Sept. 26, the payload ground handling mechanism in the Payload Changeout Room on launch pad 39A is viewed from the rear as it transfers the STS-125 mission payload into space shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay. The payload comprises four carriers holding various equipment for the mission. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller