WEBVTT FILE

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By the time the Hubble Space Telescope was 
nearing its 10th anniversary in space it had  

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already become the gold standard for modern day 
astronomy. Hubble had grown into an indispensable  

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tool used by scientists all around the globe to 
take an inside look into the universe around us.

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Everything was great, flawless even, until 
something unexpected started to creep its  

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way into the picture.

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"In the last month, namely 
in November 13th, the fourth of six gyros  

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that are on board Hubble failed, and that left only 
two operational gyros."

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Lights out. Hubble's gyros, 

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which are needed to accurately point the telescope,
were failing. What was nasa supposed to do?

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Cue servicing mission 3A.

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[ RANDOM AUDIO ]

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By 1999, Hubble was about to make 
its mark in the 21st century.

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And as that turn of the century neared, Hubble 
was also due for another servicing mission.

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Just like the previous two missions to Hubble 
servicing mission 3, planned for the year 2000,

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was going to upgrade and refurbish the telescope.

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However, without warning, Hubble's gyroscopes 
began to fail over a year before servicing  

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mission astronauts were scheduled to launch.

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"The gyros of course are are required for the

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science mission, they're required for the extremely 
accurate pointing. We've honed in onto a wire there  

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that is broken and we think that is the reason 
why the gyros have failed."

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So Hubble needed three gyroscopes to continue to do science

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and by April 20, 1999 that's all Hubble had.

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Swiftly NASA declared a Hubble emergency and split 
the upcoming servicing mission into two parts.

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Servicing mission 3A would mainly tackle the 
gyroscope failures and servicing mission 3B

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would encompass the rest of the maintenance 
that Hubble didn't need right away.

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It was now crunch time, not only did NASA have 
to prepare an extra shuttle mission, but the  

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astronauts now had to go into overdrive to prepare 
for the upcoming mission now scheduled for October.

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And then when everything seemed to be more under 
control news broke: the fourth gyro failed.

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"Today it's sitting up there with itself in safe 
mode and that again shows how important the  

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serviceability is to this facility."

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Hubble was now 
in safe mode which meant that the telescope's eyes  

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were temporarily closed to science. The servicing 
mission was more critical than ever before.

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And after multiple maintenance and 
wiring checks delayed the shuttle launch  

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on December 19, 1999 the team of 
servicing mission 3A was finally  

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able to make their mark on history.

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"And liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery  

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on a mission to repair the Hubble space 
telescope as we venture into the 21st century!"

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"Roger roll discovery!"  

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"Houston is now 
controlling the roll maneuver is complete 

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Discovery is now in a heads down position on 
course for a 28.5 degree 310 nautical mile orbit."

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Right away the team of seven astronauts went 
to work. This eight-day mission included three  

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spacewalks to Hubble, the first of 
which replaced all of the gyroscopes. 

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Now Hubble was able to be accurately positioned 
and stay locked on to its celestial targets. 

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Not only that, the team behind servicing mission 
3A refurbished Hubble's fine guidance sensor  

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for even greater precision 
in pointing the telescope, 

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fixed damaged thermal blankets that protect 
the electronics housed inside of Hubble,

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installed a new computer 20 times faster than 
Hubble's original computer, replaced old tape  

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recorders with a new solid state recorder for a 
greater efficiency in Hubble's data management,

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and fixed the spacecraft's S-Band transmitter 
to continue to relay data to the scientists on  

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the ground. and on Christmas day 1999 Hubble was 
released back into the stars ready to uncover  

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new discoveries that lie ahead. Servicing 
Mission 3A proved that NASA could not  

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only be quick on its feet in dire 
circumstances, but perform as a team  

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that is united around keeping our eyes 
open to the universe for many years to come.

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[ INSPIRING MUSIC ]