NASA's Hubble Mission Delayed Until Fall In Wake Of Shuttle Tank Work

Washington D.C. (AHN) - NASA has delayed the space shuttle's upcoming visit to the Hubble Space Telescope for at least a month to build the spare fuel tanks needed for the flight.

"Right now Hubble's mission is scheduled for August 28; we really cannot make that date with the external tank processing," shuttle program manager John Shannon was quoted as saying Thursday by Agence France-Presse.

The launch was earlier set for August 28 but extra time needed for the repair work needed for a potential rescue mission has pushed the mission back for four to five weeks until the end of September or early October, Shannon said.

The space shuttle's mission to Hubble requires two external tanks to be prepared at the same time as a second shuttle has to be ready to launch on standby. The second shuttle is needed in case of emergency.

It's a situation unique to the Hubble mission, as the shuttle and telescope will be too far from the International Space Station to seek shelter there if the shuttle is damaged. This makes production a bigger challenge and takes longer.

NASA plans to install new batteries, a wide-angle camera and other technology to the Hubble telescope for a sharper viewing that would extend its working life by up to 10 years, mission officials have said.

The Hubble Space Telescope is both a national asset and a complex machine, so NASA astronauts visit it regularly to keep it running smoothly and extend its life.

Shuttle astronauts visit the Hubble Space Telescope approximately every three years. During these service calls they replace gyroscopes, electronic boxes, and other limited-life items and install state-of-the-art science instruments - creating, essentially, a more capable observatory.

The telescope is badly in need of replacements for aging batteries, guidance sensors and gyroscopes in order to continue operating until 2013, when its replacement, the James Webb telescope, is expected to launch into orbit.