Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Johnson Space Center), Jefferson Morris (Kennedy Space Center)
The Hubble Space Telescope should be in good shape for at least five more years of service—barring mishap—after the long-delayed final space shuttle mission to service the orbiting observatory achieved two of its top three objectives in the first of five spacewalks.
The crew of STS-125 successfully grappled the Hubble Space Telescope and placed it in Atlantis’ payload bay with the orbiter’s robotic arm while the shuttle and telescope orbited 340 miles above the Earth May 13, marking another milestone in the ambitious final servicing mission. While approaching Hubble, the crew experienced some communications trouble with the telescope, which would accept commands from Atlantis but did not acknowledge them back to the crew. The problem was eventually solved.
The shuttle Atlantis suffered minor damage to a few ceramic tiles on a portion of its right wing as a result of launch debris during its ascent May 11, and NASA is trying to gather more imagery of the damaged area. Thermal protection system inspections by the STS-125 crew with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) during their first full day in space May 12 revealed small “dings” in four ceramic tiles at the point at the starboard chine where the orbiter’s right wing meets the fuselage.
