I've been following Twitter and NASA TV at work watching the historic "Grapple" of Hubble by shuttle STS-125, Atlantis this morning. It was very exciting and so I thought I'd share it with you all. For those of you not near your TV, computer, or don't follow NASA on Twitter, here is a little diary of the past hour and a half. Fr NASA 9:10 a.m. Pacific: To watch the shuttle capture Hubble at 12:56pm ET and for the first views of the telescope in 7 years, go to: www.nasa.gov/ntv Fr NASA 9:10 a.m. Shuttle Atlantis performed a small mid-course correction burn during approach to Hubble. Grapple is set to occur at about 12:54pm ET. Fr NASA 9:10 a.m. Pacific Atlantis is now closing in at 1.2 feet/sec and is just under 700 feet from Hubble. Fr Spaceflight Now 9:30 a.m.: Atlantis is now 300 feet directly below Hubble. http://tinyurl.com/o3urko Fr NASA 9:30 a.m.The Hubble team at Hubble's control center is doing commanding sequences to prepare it for Atlantis, which is about 250 ft beneath Hubble. NASA abt 9:30 a.m. Less than 24 minutes to grapple! Watch with Mission Control as Atlantis lines up w/Hubble: www.nasa.gov/ntv DishNet Ch. 123 DirecTV Ch. 283 Fr NASA 9:40 a.m. To watch the shuttle capture Hubble at 12:56pm ET and for the first views of the telescope in 7 years, go to: www.nasa.gov/ntv Fr NASA 10:05 a.m. Atlantis now closes the final 100 feet, moving at a speed of only a tenth of a ft/sec. The estimated time of grapple is 1:05pm ET. Fr Spaceflightnow 10:09 a.m. Hubble coming into view of the camera mounted at the end of the shuttle's robot arm as the shuttle inches closer. http://tinyurl.com/o3urko Fr SpaceflightNow 10:14 a.m. The shuttle's robot arm is now reaching out to grab the telescope. Fr NASA 10:15 a.m. The Hubble Space Telescope has been captured by space shuttle Atlantis' robotic arm. It now will be moved into the shuttle's cargo bay. Fr alexismadrigal(Wired Science) 10:15 a.m. Hubble is the hottest tin can of all time. http://twitpic.com/53ouw Look at her all lit up. Spaceflightnow 10:45 a.m.Communications regained with Hubble. Everything looks good for berthing the telescope in the cargo bay. http://tinyurl.com/o3urko Scifri (Science Friday) at 10:47 a.m. Atlantis crew has been given a 'go' to start work on pulling Hubble into its berth in the shuttle bay. PeterKingCBS 10:50 a.m. Atlantis astronaut Megan McArthur operating robot arm to bring Hubble into shuttle's cargo bay for its makeover. Gyeehill (JPL friend) at 10:50 a.m. Atlantis can see the Baja peninsula and soon Southern Cal. (((( waving ))))) Hi! Astro_Mike !!!!!!! Watch NASA TV on your computer: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=public Watch NASA TV www.nasa.gov/ntv, DishNet Ch. 213, DirecTV Ch. 283 Now I'll return you to your regular programming. Hope you enjoy this play-by-play. :-) Jane Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435 jane.h.jones@jpl.nasa.gov Saturnobs http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/Education/saturnobservation/ NEW!!What's Up for May: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
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Jones, Jane H