Astronauts fix Hubble by hitting it

Physics Today : In yesterday’s 8-hour spacewalk to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts Michael Massimino and Michael Good could only gain access and repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph , which failed after a power failure in 2004, by breaking off a handrail. A bolt attached to the handrail was stuck and a more violent method, brute force, had to be applied to get it off.

Once the handrail was removed, the astronauts were able to unscrew 111 fasteners of the protection plate, remove it, and replace the broken internal electronics. Due to the lost time spent on the handrail, the New Outer Blanket Layer, which will protect the HST from the environment, was not installed. NASA hopes to install it today.

In a few hours, astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel will conduct the final spacewalk to service and upgrade the HST. They will replace one of Hubble‘s original battery modules , launched with the telescope in 1990, and one of the three Fine Guidance Sensors , which lock onto guide stars and help to aim the telescope.

Update: Astronauts finish work on inside of Hubble : USA Today