Servicing the Hubble Space Telescope
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Space Shuttle Atlantis - 2009
Authors: Dennis R. Jenkins & Jorge R. Frank
Publisher: Specialty Press
ISBN: 978-1-58007-138-3
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 120
The Hubble Telescope has provided astronomers with stunning imagery of the universe for nearly twenty years. Orbiting above most of the earth's atmosphere, the Hubble Telescope is free from much of the distortion that ground-based telescopes suffer from, and the results are incredible. Although it struggled with initial mirror problems and periodic hiccups, the Hubble Telescope has proven its capabilities repeatedly, providing an invaluable resource to researchers around the world.
The future of the Hubble Telescope is bleak, though, as with the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, there will no longer be any method of affecting repairs and upgrades to Hubble. In May 2009, the Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched to undertake the final Hubble servicing mission. STS-125 took its team of seven astronauts to the Hubble Telescope and over the days of the mission, upgraded several systems and prepared Hubble for its remaining years of service.
This photo scrapbook of this last mission documents the Space Shuttle Atlantis, her crew, and the Hubble Telescope. While the compilation of photos is only a fraction of those taken of this mission, they do an excellent job of graphically depicting the final Hubble servicing mission. As the photos are all NASA photos, the quality is quite high, and for those wanting to build a model of either STS-125 or the Hubble Telescope, this book will be a valuable resource. By the way, on the latter, the Hubble website has several downloadable paper models of the Hubble Telescope, ranging from beginner to advanced modelers.
This is an interesting book, both from the photographs and the text, and it should find its way onto the shelves of anyone interested in space programs. My thanks to Specialty Press for the review copy.