The Hubble is Free!

Hubble on the horizon

 

 At 7:57 a.m. Central, history was again made in the completion of the successful servicing of the Hubble Telescope.  This amazing work was the mission (TS-125) which did more than repair a telescope.  Not only were upgrades completed, but upgrades were also installed which, if you can believe it, made Hubble even better than the day it was sent up into space.

  Though this is the last time that repairs will be made or even attempted, the Hubble should last another 5 to 10 years before it’s time to send the telescope to a watery grave back on earth.  Something this large will not be left to chance, in terms of where it lands.  After all, we are talking about something the size of a Bus!  Parts will hit the ground, or water.

  If you have not visited www.NASA.govI cannot encourage anyone with a sparkle of interest in what is beyond our world, it visit and click on the Hubble ( http://hubble.nasa.gov/) link to expore our universe.   If you take a minute to view all the images captured by Hubble, I think you will find that you will be busy for a long time to come.  Fortunately, NASA has made the most dramatic images easy to get at. 

   As I stated in an earlier entry, the Hubble is really a visual time machine.  I recommend you take some of your time, to take a view into the past.  It’s really a wonderful sight!

You can also see video of the space shuttle capture the Hubble Telescope at the link below.  There are also other links on the page to other mission related videos as well:

http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/hubblegrapple_320.asx

Mercury, Venus and Mars.

  I’ve been a fan of science for a long time.  I think it dates back to the second trimester, but it could have been the first?  In terms of space, the NASA missions over the last few years have been some of the best.  What makes the science all the more interesting is that today via the Internet, NASA is able to share the information as soon as they receive it.  It used to take weeks or months before the public received anything other than a peak at the images and data being collected.  That is no longer the case.

   Thanks to the NASA on the Internet I have been able to view our solar system in close-up detail I could have never dreamed of as a child.   The best  I could hope for as a kid, was taking the ten power binoculars out to the back yard and almost being able to make our the rings of Saturn.  But, now I have seen the surface of Mercury.  I have peered through the Sulfuric laden clouds of Venus and seen the barren landscape lit by the diffuse light of the Sun filtering it’s way down through miles of clouds in which a single breath would mean death here on Earth.  I have seen the rings of Saturn and it’s most of it’s moons in colors that where unimaginable based on the white images of years past.

    But, likely the high-lite has been the the missions to Mars.  If you have not checked out the NASA web site and checked out the Mars Rover’s Missions, you need to.  The Spirit and Opportunity rovers have provided not only years of science, they have provided me years of entertainment and learning.  Who would have believed you could land something on a planet tucked inside a big bouncing balloon.  OK, they were really air-bags, but the package did bounce before coming to rest and releasing the rovers from within. 

    Each mission we learn more about one of our neighboring planets, we end up learning more about what makes this planet Earth tick as well.