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Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-125

STS-125 Patch

United Space Alliance · Space Shuttle · Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

United Space Alliance's 42nd launch · 2nd this year · humanity's 4,981st orbital launch attempt

May 11, 2009Add to calendar
Success

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Window: May 11, 18:01May 11, 18:01 UTC

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STS-125

STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Space Shuttle Atlantis carried two new instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan.

Astrophysics · Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Crew

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Pad — Launch Complex 39A

222 launches from this pad · 281 from Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Map of Launch Complex 39AOpen in maps