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Final Voyage To Hubble
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If all goes as planned, this time next week the last voyage to the Hubble Space Telescope will have lifted off.
Alex DeMetrick reports science and local jobs will ride with it.
The Hubble Space Telescope has had repairs and upgrades four times in its nearly 20 years in orbit. For months, astronauts have been practicing on earth for its last servicing mission. It's one of NASA's toughest, and if it's successful, it could have great results.
"It will see better in areas where the human eye cannot see. We will see much, much better," said Dr. Mario Livio, Space Telescope Institute.
That means Hubble can look to other stars for planets, peering through the dust that hides distant solar systems. So far, only one has been imaged by Hubble. The upgrades astronauts will be making over a series of space walks might bring more into focus.
Between the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore and NASA's Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, up to 500 jobs depend upon the Hubble.
When it is released for the last time from the space shuttle, Hubble should be good for another five years. That's long enough to cover the gap between now and a new space telescope that will be positioned one million miles out.
Because the space shuttle fleet will be retired next year, there will be no way in the future to work on Hubble.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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