NASA is about to launch the Atlantis shuttle for the last time

The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on May 9 said the agency is expected to launch the Atlantis space shuttle on May 11 to carry out the mission to maintain and repair the Hubble Space Telescope. .

Hubble Space Telescope.

The mission this time, carrying the STS-125 code, is the 5th and final mission of Atlantis space shuttle.

Jeremy Graeber, Assistant Assistant Director of NASA at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said all the systems are ready. Up to 80% of the favorable weather conditions for the launch of the Atlantis shuttle launch, scheduled for 2:01 pm local time (18: 01GMT) on May 11.

In this mission, space shuttle Atlantis will bring a crew of 7 people. They have the task of bringing the Hubble telescope into Atlantis to perform maintenance steps for this glass to work well, until another replacement glass is expected to be launched within the next 5 years.

Astronaut Mike Massimino said the Hubble telescope will be fitted with new scientific devices such as wide-field cameras, spectrophotometers as well as adding new batteries and gyroscopes.

After the space shuttle's second fatal accident in 2003, NASA delayed the Hubble glass repair flight. NASA officials said that flight was too dangerous, if any problems happened to the shuttle, astronauts would be stuck, unable to find refuge in the International Space Station, because of this station. fly by another trajectory.

However, scientists and telescope supporters have proposed to change this decision and NASA finally approved after adding some safety measures.