Astronauts to take last spacewalk to repair Hubble

[May 18, 2009]  CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) -- Astronauts are about to touch the Hubble Space Telescope for the last time.

Atlantis spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel (FOY-stahl) will leave the space shuttle Atlantis Monday morning for their mission's fifth and final spacewalk.

This is also the fifth and final repair mission for the 19-year-old telescope.

The shuttle will release Hubble on Tuesday. NASA hopes these repairs will buy Hubble five to 10 more years of life. After that, a robot will steer Hubble back into Earth's atmosphere and toward a watery grave.

The astronauts Monday will replace a couple batteries, a sensor and some insulation. They will try to make insulation repairs that were supposed to be completed Sunday, but couldn't get done because of problems with a balky bolt.

[Associated Press]

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