columbiaspaceshuttlecurrenteventproject

       The Columbia Space Shuttle went on all kinds of missions. The most recent: A trip to the Hubbble Space Telescope to make repairs. But I bet you didn't know that it could have not went up to Hubble to make the repairs because of a pipe?
        The most recent mission aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle was an 11 day mission, with 7 astronauts to do repairs and upgrades on the Hubble Space Telescope. It started on March 1, 2002 and ecded March 12, 2002. They came with $ 172,000,000 in new gear for the Hubble. They brought up things like new solar wings, a power control unit, a steering mechanism, a more advanced camera, and a system to restart a disabled camera.
        On the launch day March 1, the shuttle had a problem as they were heading to the Hubble.   The flow of freon coolant decreased in one of the radiators needed to keep systems from overheating. Engineers belived a coolant loop was clogged by debris that may have gotten thier during repairs. They think it was a bad welding job. NASA belived that they could still complete the mission because the engineers thought it would not be a problem and let it countinue.
        "It was definitely one of the toughest missions we have faced." Says Shuttle Commander Scottt Altman.
          The Misson: The 1st space walk they did was to put in new solar wings. This went exactly as planned and was successful. The next space walk was to put in a steering mechanism. Then the 3rd was one to put in the power control ubit This made NASA very nervous because they had to turn off the Hubble which they had never done before and it might not have turned back on but it successfully worked. The 4th was to install a more advanced camera. Then there was the last and final Space walk to put in a system to restart a disabled camera.
           Why they had to do upgrades is because the Hubble was getting to need new gear. What they hoped to accomplish was to get better pictures of the surronding planets, stars and other galaxies.
            They spent a total of 10 days, 22 hours and 10 minutes in space. This was Columbia's 27th flight and its first since 1999 after the undergoing modifications.
            The mission was a total success and they landed an hour early at 3:32 A.M. in Kennedy Space Center, Florida on March 12, 2002. It was picture perfect night landing.
            I think that it was cool because they got to go on space walks to upgrade and fix things on the Hubble.
            The shuttle is important because it is reuseable.and costeffective to get things in
orbit.
           In the future it will probably be used to fix things like the Hubble and satellites, to take stuff to the Space Station and possible future vacations in space.