Updated at: 1209 PST, Friday, May 15, 2009WASHINGTON: Spacewalking astronauts upgraded the Hubble telescope for the first time in seven years, equipping the 19-year-old stargazer with a powerful new camera and science computer.
The seven hour outing by John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel, members of the seven-strong space shuttle Atlantis crew, marked the first of five daily spacewalks by the astronauts.
"We gave Hubble a hug, and true to form Hubble gave us a few curves," Grunsfeld, a 50-year-old astronomer making his third visit to the telescope, more than any other astronaut.
Feustel, a 43-year-old geologist and a rookie astronaut, provided the muscle that freed a balk bolt that threatened to prevent the spacewalks from removing the telescope's main camera and replace it with a more capable one.
The seven hour outing by John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel, members of the seven-strong space shuttle Atlantis crew, marked the first of five daily spacewalks by the astronauts.
"We gave Hubble a hug, and true to form Hubble gave us a few curves," Grunsfeld, a 50-year-old astronomer making his third visit to the telescope, more than any other astronaut.
Feustel, a 43-year-old geologist and a rookie astronaut, provided the muscle that freed a balk bolt that threatened to prevent the spacewalks from removing the telescope's main camera and replace it with a more capable one.
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