♪♪
-♪ Floating free as a bird ♪
♪ 60-foot leaps it's so absurd ♪
♪ From up here, you should see the view ♪
♪ Such a lot of space for me and you ♪
♪ Oh, you'd like it ♪
♪ Gliding around, get your feet off the ground ♪
♪ Oh, you'd like it ♪
♪ Do as you please with so much ease ♪
♪ Now I know how it feels ♪
♪ To have wings on my heels ♪
♪ To take a stroll among the stars ♪
♪ Get a close look at planet Mars ♪
♪ Oh, you'd like it ♪
♪ Gliding around, get your feet off the ground ♪
♪ Oh, you'd like it ♪
♪ Do as you please with so much ease ♪
♪ Oh ♪
-Good morning, Columbia.
That was from the Flight Control Team for the entire crew,
but especially for Digger and Mass.
It was "Floating" by the Moody Blues from 1970,
and it struck us as very apropos.
As much as we're all looking forward to seeing you
when you return, we want you to make sure
to savor this last full day in space,
gliding around with your feet off the ground.
-Thanks, Dan.
That was great, and from Digger and me,
we sure appreciate you thinking of us.
It's been a wonderful experience.
-Hey, Maryland Science Center.
Space Shuttle Columbia has you loud and clear.
How are you today? -We're just fine.
Thanks for joining us tonight.
We are at the Maryland Science Center
at Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
We actually are the home of the Hubble Space
Telescope National Visitor's Center,
so it's very appropriate we're talking to you this week,
and with us tonight we have 24 students
from the Baltimore SEMAA program,
and SEMAA is the Science Engineering Mathematics
and Aerospace Academy
based here at Baltimore's Morgan State University.
We've been working with them for a couple of months.
They have many questions for you,
and we're going to start off with Monty.
-My name is Monty.
To convince us that you are really in space,
could you show us some fun things you can do
when you are weightless in space
that would not be able to do otherwise?
-Okay.
Well, some of the things you can do,
I guess, are float things to each other.
You can see a space shuttle floating slowly across the shot.
You can also change your position if you want.
If there's not enough room down here,
like it's crowded, you can turn upside down,
and it's hard to hold that position in gravity
without hurting your head.
-My name is Zodric.
Can you describe the steps you went through
to attach the Hubble Space Telescope
with Columbia's robot arm?
-Well, the first thing we had to do with the robot arm
was to catch Hubble, and so to my left here
is Scott Altman, the commander of this mission,
and he flew the shuttle basically in formation
while we traveled at Mach 25,
flew within several feet of the telescope,
and then I maneuvered the arm over,
and on the end of the --
On the telescope end, we have a grapple fixture.
The grapple fixture is kind of like a big pen
sticking out about 7 inches long.
We just maneuvered the end of the end effector down.
The end of the end effector is like a cannister,
and inside it has snares.
We closed the snares, and then it rigidizes,
and then we attach to the satellite.
-My name is Verna.
I know that astronauts train
underwater to prepare for space walks.
How close is this training to the real thing?
-I thought it was very close to the real thing.
This is my first flight and my first space walks,
and I thought that our training really prepared us very well.
The mock-ups we have --
The model of the Hubble Space Telescope
we have in the pool is very similar to what we have --
the way the real Hubble Space Telescope was.
So when we opened up a door to get inside an equipment bay,
I felt like I had seen it before even though
it was actually the first time I had ever seen it.
I really felt very comfortable with it
and felt like I had seen it before.
So the training we got in the pool was really great,
very representative of what we saw in orbit.
-My name is India.
What kinds of tools did you use during the servicing mission?
-Hi, India.
We had all kinds of special tools made for this mission,
specifically to work on the projects
that were the main parts
of the EVA tasks that we all did.
So, for instance, when we changed out
the power box to the PCU in Hubble,
John here had worked on tools
from previous missions to use in this one.
We had a special kind of pair of pliers that we could go in
and take off the connectors with and put them back on,
and we have different things that were made specifically
for some of the boxes that we put in and out,
and then, of course, we had general wrenches
and tools that you might see.
Some of it your father might use in his garage,
but all high-tech stuff and very expensive.
-Hello. My name is Alvin Ashford.
During your EVAs, did you discover anything
that might affect plans
for the next Hubble servicing mission?
-While we were out doing our space walks on the telescope,
we saw lots of different things
that were very interesting on the telescope.
The telescope has been up in space for about 12 years,
and, in general, the telescope is in really great shape,
and I think future space walkers
will have the same kind of space walks
that we had in terms of being able to service the telescope.
We didn't really see anything that surprised us
and would make it more difficult,
and some of the things that we did
will make it a little bit easier.
We put some doorstops on so that when we open the doors
the next time that folks go up,
they won't hit anything that we installed this time.
I think Hubble is in great shape
and ready for servicing again in a few years.
-Hello. My name is Joshua Walker.
My question is, did you experience
any unexpected problems during the EVAs?
If so, how did you solve them? -Hi.
Yes, we did have one unexpected problem.
On the third space walk, one of the spacesuits
had a valve fail open,
which resulted in a lot of water in the spacesuit.
Had we gone outside with that spacesuit
with all the water in it,
it would have frozen up and probably broken the spacesuit.
Fortunately, we detected it before we went outside,
and so we were able to clean up the water
and to change out the spacesuit with a backup spacesuit
that we had.
It costs us about 2 hours of time that day,
but we all worked hard to turnaround the new spacesuit,
and we still got the space walk done that day.
-Good evening. My name is Jessica.
Mission Specialist Grunsfeld participated in Hubble
Servicing Mission 3A.
What are the advantages of having a returning
Hubble Servicing Mission crew member?
-I was thrilled to be selected to go back to Hubble.
The first trip I did in 1999
was the most exciting thing I had ever done in my life,
and so when I got to be picked to come back again,
I was really excited,
but the advantages are that, having been there once,
I had a good understanding of some of the problems
that we encounter or could encounter on the telescope
and also a toolbox of skills that are specific
to servicing the Hubble Space Telescope,
tools and techniques and a big knowledge base
of what things are sensitive on the telescope,
what things we have to be careful of
and what things that we have to do
to be able to service it correctly,
and that knowledge transferred to the new guys on the team
was very helpful.
-Hello. My name is Patar.
Can you describe your feelings when you saw
the Hubble Space Telescope up close for the first time?
-Well, I was flying the space shuttle during the rendezvous
and had a good look at it as we closed up to it,
and it's just amazing to see it out there shining so brightly.
At first, it looks just like a star,
and as you get closer you can actually see
that it's the telescope.
It's just amazing to me that we can pick out an object
that's been flying around in space at orbital speeds
and then rendezvous and come up and join up with it
until it was floating just inches above our payload bay,
and, at that time, it looked huge to me
as we were getting close, but it was just amazing
that we could come up and keep with it
and have it just float right there in our bay
until Nancy could reach out and grab it with the arm.
-My name is Seth.
What inspired you to become an astronaut,
and how old were you when you made this decision?
-Hi, Seth, interesting question.
What inspired me to be an astronaut
was there was a time in my life when I wanted to contribute
to what I thought was the greatest quest
that mankind is undergoing right now,
and that is the exploration of places not of this world,
and I wanted to be a part of that.
I thought that was the greatest thing going on in our lifetime,
and I wanted to help out in some way.
-Hi. My name is Shante.
What type of skills that you learned in school and college
help you the most at your job as an astronaut?
-Well, Shante, probably the most important things
that I learned came early in my education,
and that would be just the basic science courses,
doing well in mathematics, biology, chemistry,
and if you get a really good basic knowledge
of those subjects and go on from there,
do well in high school and then go on and get
a really good college education at your school of your choice,
I think you would be well-prepared
for any type of job you might want in society
and also to be prepared to be an astronaut.
-We have with us students from the I Have a Dream Foundation
at the Rocky Mountain Mutual Housing Association,
and without further ado, let's get to their questions.
-My name is Nick.
You installed a lot of new equipment in the telescope.
What was the most important thing you added, and why?
-Hi, Nick. That's a good question.
We installed lots of important things.
We put new solar arrays on.
We put a new power control unit in.
We put a reaction wheel in.
We put a new cooling system in.
The one instrument that I was involved
in one of the space walks,
the ACS, the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
That was our major scientific objective,
and that is going to increase the capability,
the scientific capability, of the Hubble Space Telescope
by a factor of 10.
So I think we're all excited about the possibility
of what that camera might discover.
So I would say that was probably
the most exciting scientific instrument
that we put in during the mission.
-Hi. My name is Briana.
We did a photography program in our after-school program.
How is the ACS different
from the cameras we use here on Earth?
-That's a very good question.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys
actually has three cameras in it,
and it was built just north of you, up in Boulder, Colorado.
The three cameras are very similar to digital cameras
that you might have at home or you might use in school
except that the main camera, the Wide Field Camera,
has a really huge detector chip.
That's kind of like the film.
It's a 4,000-by -4,000-pixel chip,
and so it takes really supersharp pictures.
The other two cameras are our High Resolution Camera.
That's got, like, the zoom lens on the telescope,
and the other one is called a Solar Blind Camera,
and that's so that you can look very, very close to stars
and see if maybe there's planets around those stars.
-Hi, my name is Mira.
Now that you have released the Hubble Space Telescope,
how long will it take to get the first picture,
and when will we see it?
-Since the camera is such a special camera,
and we've released it from the Hubble,
the telescope team is going to wait a little while
before they turn it on,
and that's because even though we're nearly in a vacuum,
just going in and servicing the telescope
and having people on the space shuttle nearby
causes a little bit of contamination
to live around the telescope for a while.
So they'll probably wait at least a couple of weeks
before they take their first picture,
and it'll probably be a month or so before we see the results.
-Hi, my name is Shaquille.
Were you scared when you turned the power off on the telescope?
-Ah, yes, we were a little bit concerned or scared
about turning the power off on the telescope
because there's always a worry that
when you go to turn it back on, that something might break.
As you know, it's usually when you're turning on your TV
or your light bulb that that's the most chance
for something to break or pop.
Inside the telescope are all these relays that have --
some have been cycled and some haven't, little switches,
and so we were all very concerned and very relieved
when we heard that the power up was successful.
-This is question is from Sharon.
Can you describe how liftoff feels?
-It's almost indescribable.
You're sitting there on the pad
waiting for the engines to light off,
and you feel like you're back in the simulator
until all the sudden the engines light up,
the whole vehicle starts shaking,
and there's no doubt in your mind
you're no longer in a simulator.
This is the real thing,
and then the solid rocket boosters light off,
and you get a huge kick in the pants as you roar off the pad.
It's just an indescribable, incredible rush of exhilaration,
feeling the raw power as you accelerate up.
It was just beautiful.
You can kind of tell I'm still excited about it.
-Well, thank you, STS-109. We hear our time is at an end.
We have been watching you work for the last week.
You've done great stuff, and we can't wait to see you come back
and see those great new pictures from Hubble
which will be showing at our museum and the one in Denver.
Good night.
Thanks a lot. -Well, good night.
It's been great having you with us on this mission,
and we've enjoyed talking tonight.
-Houston, Columbia.
-Columbia, Houston, go ahead.
-Hey, Roland, we were wondering at what time
do you pick up the KU
and what would be on time for the next event?
-Columbia, Houston, Nancy,
we should have KU at 18:34 with the event starting at 18:35.
-Copy six.
-No problem, and we assume
that you'll be using the same location as your previous one?
-Yes, we're on the middeck.
If we're not on the flight deck, chances are
we're on the middeck, and that's where we'll be.
-We knew we'd be able to track you down somewhere.
Thank you.
-Could you describe or characterize the mission
in terms of its success in your mind,
and could you tell us whether you and your crew
are exhausted, exhilarated or some of both?
-Hey, Mark. It's great to talk to you again.
You know, as I look back over this mission,
we had kind of a rough start.
Everybody came together.
The team really responded, and from that point on,
from the time we had the Freon failure,
it's been an uphill climb.
We've worked incredibly hard, been very busy,
but also I think incredibly successful,
and I just couldn't be prouder the whole team,
both all of us up here and the folks down there
who worked so hard to make this a success,
and yes, you're right.
We are exhausted, but we are also exhilarated.
Unbelievable that we got everything we set out
to do accomplished.
We're really thrilled about that,
and we're looking forward to coming home
and sharing some more with everybody.
-When you were maneuvering the arm around,
you did some work with the telescope
and some work with the space walkers.
Did you feel more pressure to handle the telescope
delicately or your space walkers?
-I'm getting a lot of grief for that question,
but, you know, there's a high level of stress for both.
Obviously, if we didn't grapple the telescope,
there wouldn't have been five EVAs,
and so it started with that, and I just kind of looked at it
as one step at a time,
and especially as the flight engineer, also.
I just took it one day at a time, one step at a time,
and focused on the task for that day,
but yeah, I would be absolutely untruthful
if I didn't say I wasn't nervous on grapple day
because grappling a free flyer
is probably one of the more difficult things
we do with the arm, although it is always on my mind
that I've got a human being on the end.
Basically, at one point, Jim called himself an end effector
as we were putting in the Advanced Camera for Survey
and basically driving him in with the arm.
-For the commander, this was your first flight as commander.
Did you feel any real pressure
to maybe jump into a spacesuit yourself
or take over the robot arm earlier
than you were supposed to?
-Oh, everybody just did so well.
They trained so hard and worked so hard up here,
I probably had the easiest job of all.
I just got to sit back and watch everybody do their jobs.
It's a great team effort, both on the ground and up here,
and I just can't thank everybody enough,
from my crew to the whole support staff at Houston.
-In terms of the Freon loop number one situation,
I am wondering what your cockpit displays will show you,
whether they would enable you to monitor flow rates
within that particular loop,
and if you have any lingering concerns about that situation?
-Well, we do have indications here, you know,
as well as all the data the ground has,
but we see the aft, basically is a black box,
and we get a flow rate indication through that,
and we've monitored that and looked at it.
It's remained basically stable through the flight.
I know ECOM on the ground has probably been staring
at that number as well,
alert to let us know if there was any degradation,
but we're really happy with the shape of Columbia.
It's worked out fine.
From a few nervous moments to our big success,
I think we're all just elated that we got to stay up here
and complete the mission.
-And just a quick follow on that,
what actions would be required on either the part of you
and Digger or the ground if you, for some reason,
had to switch over to loop two and fly solely on that,
and what would be the upshot if both loops for some reason
went down after the deorbit burn?
-Well, I guess the quick answer is we'd all get very warm.
The shuttle actually works on both Freon loops all the time.
So if you lose one, you have to start shutting equipment off.
If you lose both, you've got
to get on the ground as soon as possible.
So if something like that had happened,
that was the big concern.
Will the one degraded cooling loop have enough capability
to get us to the ground with all the equipment
and redundancy that we needed, and the ground decided,
looking at the rates, that it would.
We were capable of the next worst-case failure,
and that's what allowed us
to stay up here the rest of the time.
-Since you've been space walking now on the station
and the Hubble,
which of your experiences stands out
as your most memorable space walking day?
-I think that each one is in its own category of memories,
its own special place.
When we put the International Space Station together
and on its path there, that was very, very special,
when Jerry and I went out,
and as you know, Jerry's going out next month on the station.
Doing Hubble though is a very special experience
because it is such an internationally
known piece of equipment,
and it's so productive, and it's so demanding.
So each one is very special in its way,
but they're both very different types of space walks.
-I mean, was this mission
everything that you really expected it to be?
-Yes, everything and more.
In my mind, before the mission,
I think I was thinking I wouldn't be surprised
if we didn't accomplish all the objectives,
but it's -- We went out there
and then did it, and we did it together,
and I think as far as any particular day,
the day that probably jazzed me the most so far
would be rendezvous day.
It was just such a thrill,
after all the training we've had,
to see that happen for real, and there was one point
when Hubble was still quite a ways out,
and Scooter had me go back
and look out the overhead window,
and there's this beautiful golden star,
and I just couldn't believe it was happening.
It seemed like a dream.
-The crew onboard Columbia will shortly press
into the activation
of one of three hydraulic power units on the orbiter
to begin the flight control system checkout
that will verify the operation and the health
of all of the aero surfaces on the orbiter,
the typical day-before-landing checkouts of Columbia's systems.
And a good view of the reaction control system jets
firing at the rear of Columbia.
This view, looking aft in the payload bay.
The shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm on the right side,
which was used to retrieve and deploy
the Hubble Space Telescope and maneuver space walkers
around during 5 days of servicing tasks.
In the foreground is the rigid array carrier,
the cargo carrier in which the old solar arrays
for the Hubble Space Telescope are housed
and which will be returned to the European Space Agency.
This is Mission Control Houston.
Columbia currently moving off the northern coast
of the continent of Australia,
beginning a southwest-to-northeasterly
swing across the Pacific Ocean, soon to cross the equator
to begin the 151st orbit of this mission.
All of Columbia's systems in good shape.
One of several dozen reaction control system jets
failed during the reaction control system
hot fire test a short time ago
because of a low chamber pressure,
but it is one of four such jets in a package of yaw-firing jets
at the rear of the orbiter, and so that has no impact
to tomorrow morning's entry and landing.
Columbia is moving into an orbital sunset at the moment
at an altitude of 338 statute miles.
All of its other systems checked out perfectly earlier
this morning.
The flight control system checkout
and the activation of one of three hydraulic power units
went off without a hitch,
and so Columbia is in good shape,
ready to support entry and landing tomorrow
morning to the Kennedy Space Center.
-Columbia moving across the Southern Indian Ocean.
The island of Madagascar here on your screen,
the southern tip on the right-hand side of your screen.
The Western coast of Mexico in view here.
This is Mission Control Houston.
In the center of your screen is the Atlantic coast
of Southern Africa.
North is to the bottom right of your screen,
and south is to the top left.
-Well, it's that time of night again, guys,
and this is Orbit 2's last shift,
assuming that you land on time.
I'd like to say I can't top Mariel,
but this has been a privilege for me
and all of the Orbit 2 team,
and I'd like to leave you with this.
We all know that the best stories are the ones
that are still there when grandchildren
are running around,
and I expect that many stories from this adventure
will still be vivid when -- for us all when that time comes,
stories from the Freon loops that almost did not let us
begin to that wonderful feeling of success after the fifth EVA.
I think that the number of times that all of us here
on the ground recount with pride the fact that we were there
and that we knew the guys who did this
will echo the spirit that we all shared this week.
Now, one of the guys on the ground
who had his first flight as flight director
is just sitting on my left here
is the Orbit 2 Flight Director, Tony Ceccacci,
and with the focus he showed you guys,
he no doubt has a long,
distinguished career in front of him.
So off in the future when he becomes a famous
flight director, say, like, on the first mission to Mars,
one of the stories you can tell your grandchildren
is that it was he who was the first-time flight director
when they put that amazing,
advanced Camera for Survey on the Hubble.
So I know that Tony thanks you for the good show
you gave him on his first flight,
and to the crew of STS-109,
stay in the corridor at the entry interface,
have a safe landing,
see you at Ellington and good night.
-And to Steve, Tony and the rest of the MCC team, Steve,
just tremendously eloquent words.
We really appreciate every one of your thoughts.
It's been an honor to be just the tip of the spear here,
part of the big team.
Tony, it's been a joy to work with you.
We appreciate the support you've given throughout
the entire mission preparation and execution,
and words fail me, basically.
It's been a tremendous privilege to be here,
and just thank you very...