STATUS REPORT : STS-125-16

4 a.m. CDT Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

05.19.09 STATUS REPORT : STS-125-16
STS-125 MCC Status Report #16

The crew of Atlantis will bid farewell to the Hubble Space Telescope today. Atlantis’ crew woke up this morning at 3:31 a.m. CDT to “Lie in Our Graves” performed by the Dave Matthews Band. It was played for Mission Specialist Megan McArthur.

McArthur will operate the shuttle’s robotic arm today as she reaches out and grapples onto the telescope. She will then lift Hubble out of Atlantis’ payload bay and move it over the edge of the shuttle. Ground teams will command Hubble’s aperture door to open, which is the large shutter that protects the telescope’s primary and secondary mirrors. Final release of Hubble is scheduled for 7:53 a.m.

Atlantis will perform a final separation maneuver from the telescope at 8:29 a.m., which will take the shuttle out of the vicinity of Hubble. The berthing mechanism to which Hubble has been attached during the mission will then be stored back down into the payload bay.

The crew also will use the robotic arm to unberth the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) and will use it to perform a scheduled inspection of Atlantis’ heat shield to make sure that it remains in good shape for entry.

The crew’s sleep period will begin at 7:31 p.m. CDT, and the crew is due to wake up tomorrow at 3:31 a.m. The next status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s day or earlier if events warrant.