Hubble crew testifies in Senate

From Eun Kyung Kim:

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulksi was positively giddy today about a very special long distance phone call - from space.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis crew testified at the Maryland Democrat's committee hearing. Mikulski chairs the committee that oversees NASA's budget.

The crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which just finished repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope, testified from orbit before a captive audience that applauded several times at their appearance on a large screen television in the hearing room.

"As you close the hatch on Hubble, you have now opened a new door on a new era of scientific discovery. Hubble is the people's telescope," Mikulski told the crew. "What you've done to refocus and recharge the Hubble telescope is appreciated. We appreciate the daring and the difficult and the dangerous things you've done."

Asked to detail "those nailbiting moments," pilot Gregory Johnson told the senator that each spacewalk had him worried.

"From the pilot's perspective, I was on the edge of my seat on all five," he said.

Mission specialist Michael Massimino described the details of a particularly risky spacewalk, in which he had to use some elbow grease to loosen a stuck bolt.

"We tried to think of every problem we could come up with and were prepared, I thought, for everything, but we never expected that particular bolt to give us trouble," Massimino said. "When it did, and when we started getting the suggestions from the ground, I really thought that we were in trouble. I couldn't see how we were going to be able to continue the repair at that point."

Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who flew on a 1986 Shuttle mission, told the crew, "Hey, guys, I wish I were up there with you."

Mikulski ended the conversation wishing them a safe return to Earth. She said she and Nelson look forward to welcoming them in person to the Senate, "where we can give you a great big Hubble hug."

Mikulski had billed the conversation with the shuttle crew as a first, but NASA astronaut John Phillips testified to Congress from orbit in 2005