Today (May 11th 2009), Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off for a Mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. This will be the last Mission to the Telescope which aims at increases its life span by about 5 more years.
Among other things, Astronauts will install thermal blankets, repair two existing instruments, replace gyroscopes, batteries and a unit that stores and transmits science data to Earth.
The Mission will take 11 days and five space walks are planned each lasting over 5 hours.
An Emergency rescue mission is planned incase anything goes wrong. Considering the the distance from the International Space Station and its High Orbit, such a mission is very needed as the Shuttle is at a higher risk of being hit by space junk.
The Mission will also improve Hubbles observations and give us a detailed view of the Cosmos.
Follow the Mission on the STS 125 Launch Blog
