NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis at Launch Pad for Hubble Mission

March 31, 2009

John Yembrick
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
john.yembrick-1@xxxxxxxx

Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas@xxxxxxxx

RELEASE: 09-075

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS AT LAUNCH PAD FOR HUBBLE MISSION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After safely reaching its launch pad at
NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis now awaits
liftoff for its target May 12 STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space
Telescope.

Atlantis arrived at Launch Pad 39A at approximately 9:10 a.m. EDT
Tuesday on top of a giant crawler-transporter. The
crawler-transporter left Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building at 3:54
a.m., traveling less than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey. The
shuttle was secured on the launch pad at 11:17 a.m.

Atlantis' 11-day mission is the final shuttle flight to Hubble.
During
five spacewalks, the shuttle's seven astronauts will install two new
instruments, repair two inactive ones and replace other Hubble
components.

The Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit that will be
installed in the telescope arrived at Kennedy on Monday. The new unit
will replace the one in Hubble that stopped working in September 2008
and delayed the servicing mission.

The result of the upgrades will be six working, complementary science
instruments with capabilities beyond those now available and an
extended operational lifespan of the telescope through at least 2014.

Scott Altman will command Atlantis. Gregory C. Johnson will be the
pilot. The Mission Specialists will be John Grunsfeld, Mike
Massimino, Megan McArthur, Andrew Feustel and Michael Good.

STS-125 is the 126th shuttle flight, the 30th flight for Atlantis and
the fifth Hubble servicing mission.

Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to roll out to Kennedy's other
launch pad, 39B, on Thursday, April 17. Endeavour will be prepared
for liftoff in the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary
following Atlantis' launch. After Atlantis is cleared to land,
Endeavour will move to Launch Pad 39A for its upcoming STS-127
mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch in
mid-June.

Endeavour will roll over from Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility 2
to the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 10. In the assembly
building, crews will attach the spacecraft to its external fuel tank
and twin solid rocket boosters in preparations for its move to pad
39B.

NASA managers decided to proceed with the dual-pad approach after
carefully reviewing the manifest options to complete the
International Space Station and to ensure it is in the most robust
condition possible following shuttle retirement.

The dual-pad approach requires one month less processing time than
the
single-pad approach and will help complete both STS-125 and STS-127.
Endeavour will deliver the Japanese Exposed Facility and make the
space station more robust to support cargo delivery for a six-person
crew.

The Space Shuttle Program will continue to work with the
Constellation
Program to minimize the impact on the Ares I-X test flight which will
use Launch Pad 39B later this year.

For more information about the STS-125 mission and crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For more information about the Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation

-end-
.

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