STS-125

Scott Altman

• Birthday: 08/15/1959
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 04/17/1998
• Last Flight: 05/11/2009

Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman is a retired United States Navy Captain, engineer, test pilot and former NASA astron...

Gregory C. Johnson

• Birthday: 07/30/1954
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 05/11/2009
• Last Flight: 05/11/2009

Gregory Carl "Ray J" Johnson is a former American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and NA...

K. Megan McArthur

• Birthday: 08/30/1971
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 05/11/2009
• Last Flight: 04/23/2021

Katherine Megan McArthur is an American oceanographer and a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut. S...

Michael T. Good

• Birthday: 10/13/1962
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 05/11/2009
• Last Flight: 05/14/2010

Michael Timothy "Bueno" Good is a NASA astronaut and retired commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, h...

Mike Massimino

• Birthday: 08/19/1962
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 03/01/2002
• Last Flight: 05/11/2009

Michael James Massimino is an American professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and a former NASA astronaut...

Andrew J. Feustel

• Birthday: 08/25/1965
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 05/11/2009
• Last Flight: 03/21/2018

Andrew Jay "Drew" Feustel is a geophysicist and a NASA astronaut. Following several years working as a geophysicist...

John M. Grunsfeld

• Birthday: 10/10/1958
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 03/02/1995
• Last Flight: 05/11/2009

John Mace Grunsfeld is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and h...

Mission

STS-125

• Type: Astrophysics
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Space Shuttle Atlantis carried two new instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Find the best place to watch the launch from Florida

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 208 rockets, including 207 orbital launch attempts. While Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 266 rocket launches.

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of NASA's ten field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

Rocket

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Learn more about the Space Shuttle

Agency

United Space Alliance

United Space Alliance (USA) is a spaceflight operations company. USA is a joint venture which was established in August 1995 as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.