1 00:00:00,010 --> 00:00:04,180 [no sound] 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:08,360 >>KATRINA: NASA Goddard's Space Telescope Operations Control Center 3 00:00:08,380 --> 00:00:12,720 has seen a lot of activity over the past 25 years of the Hubble Space Telescope. 4 00:00:12,740 --> 00:00:16,900 It looks calm now, but 13 years ago, it was a 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,010 very different story. [tense music] 6 00:00:21,030 --> 00:00:25,090 [music] >>JOHN: Engineers at the Goddard 7 00:00:25,110 --> 00:00:29,260 Space Flight Center discovered that there was a very small fault 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,440 in the Power Control Unit. >>CHRISTINE: You know, it's the heart of Hubble. All the power 9 00:00:33,460 --> 00:00:37,640 runs through that box. >>MIKE: To change out the PCU, you actually have to turn off the 10 00:00:37,660 --> 00:00:41,820 telescope. This is something we've never ever done, is turn the telescope completely 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,890 off. >>JOHN: When we turn all the power off of Hubble, it starts 12 00:00:45,910 --> 00:00:50,060 getting cold. >>AL: You know, space is a cruel environment, and so 13 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,240 the temperature control of the telescope is very important. >>MIKE: I was brought on 14 00:00:54,260 --> 00:00:58,420 to develop a command procedure which we called the super proc, which would turn the telescope off 15 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,610 as quickly as we possibly could. >>CHRISTINE: For months, we analyzed different scenarios. 16 00:01:02,630 --> 00:01:06,650 >>ART: We thought through everything that could possibly go wrong. 17 00:01:06,670 --> 00:01:10,690 >>CHRISTINE: We felt confident, we had a ream of analysis. [electronic beeps] 18 00:01:10,710 --> 00:01:14,880 >>MIKE: I arrived late at night for the start of the orbit 19 00:01:14,900 --> 00:01:19,050 shift. >>AL: So the team was very prepared and very focused on what we had 20 00:01:19,070 --> 00:01:23,240 to do that night. >>CHRISTINE: You know everything was pretty calm, everything was, 21 00:01:23,260 --> 00:01:27,410 you know, you're nervous, but everything was going according to plan. >>MIKE: John was getting into 22 00:01:27,430 --> 00:01:31,600 his suit, he's getting into the airlock, they're going through all their checklists, and we're sending commands 23 00:01:31,620 --> 00:01:35,640 and commands. It's like we were starting down a roller coaster ride. >>ART: The goal was 24 00:01:35,660 --> 00:01:39,810 always to have the work site ready to go with whatever power needed to be 25 00:01:39,830 --> 00:01:44,010 removed for safety considerations, just when the crew got to the work 26 00:01:44,030 --> 00:01:48,190 site. [electronic beeps] >>MIKE: All of a sudden, we hear, 27 00:01:48,210 --> 00:01:52,360 over the loops we hear John say, "I have a leak." >>CHRISTINE: What does that mean?! 28 00:01:52,380 --> 00:01:56,560 A water leak in a suit, you know that's, that's not good. 29 00:01:56,580 --> 00:02:00,620 >>MIKE: Then Al comes on the loops and tells us, "Stop doing the commanding. 30 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,820 We need to figure out what we're going to do from this point." >>AL: What we immediately did was 31 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:09,020 started to assess what components we had already powered off. 32 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:13,200 >>CHRISTINE: Then I said, "You know, these things don't have a large margin, you know we're 33 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:17,400 up to the line." >>AL: Our thermal engineers would tell us, "Well given the condition 34 00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:21,420 and the current temperatures, we've got a certain amount of time." 35 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,450 >>CHRISTINE: I said, "Okay, turn on this, turn on these, you know, general bus 36 00:02:25,470 --> 00:02:29,630 heaters." >>MIKE: At the same time, the astronauts are frantically working to change out 37 00:02:29,650 --> 00:02:33,820 John's suit to get him back ready. >>ART: The next thing we hear is, "Okay, 38 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,990 we've got it fixed." >>CHRISTINE: You know, he got into a different suit, and things were 39 00:02:38,010 --> 00:02:42,170 working well. We turned right back around and starting shutting things back off. >>ART: And so 40 00:02:42,190 --> 00:02:46,280 we were right back on that roller coaster of powering down again. >>CHRISTINE: It was a relief to me, we're 41 00:02:46,300 --> 00:02:50,310 back on track, you know we're back to the original plan. >>MIKE: Luckily we had everything 42 00:02:50,330 --> 00:02:54,500 reconfigured in time, so that by the time John got to the door 43 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,870 and was ready to start working on the PCU, we were able to send the super proc. 44 00:02:58,890 --> 00:03:03,050 >>VOICE OVER HEADSET: The telescope is powered down. John, tell those 45 00:03:03,070 --> 00:03:07,230 super proc people they're geniuses. 46 00:03:07,250 --> 00:03:11,420 >>MIKE: The telescope was completely off. 47 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,460 >>CHRISTINE: It's an engineer's life blood to sit there and watch the telemetry, watch the temperatures, watch 48 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,630 the voltages, watch the power, make sure everything is safe while they're working on the telescope. 49 00:03:19,650 --> 00:03:23,830 But we had none of that. >>MIKE: All we could do was sit back and watch John perform what was 50 00:03:23,850 --> 00:03:28,020 one of the most amazing EVAs of all times, it was like watching poetry in motion. 51 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,200 [quiet driving music] 52 00:03:32,220 --> 00:03:36,390 [quiet driving music] 53 00:03:36,410 --> 00:03:40,400 [music fades out] [electronic beeps] >>ART: Before we knew it, 54 00:03:40,420 --> 00:03:44,590 it was time to power things back on. >>MIKE: They gave us the call 55 00:03:44,610 --> 00:03:48,760 down to say, "Go for the PCU aliveness test." This is where we actually 56 00:03:48,780 --> 00:03:52,950 can send the commands to turn the telescope back on. 57 00:03:52,970 --> 00:03:57,110 >>ART: All of a sudden, this flood of telemetry starts 58 00:03:57,130 --> 00:04:01,210 coming in from the telescope. >>CHRISTINE: Power was running through it, the batteries were 59 00:04:01,230 --> 00:04:05,400 charging, and for me the temperatures were 60 00:04:05,420 --> 00:04:09,580 looking in a safe, you know, range. >>ART: Everyone's looking at their screens and 61 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,750 it was pretty much just green across the board. >>MIKE: Hubble was back alive. 62 00:04:13,770 --> 00:04:17,930 >>AL: We were very pleased, of course. >>CHRISTINE: It was a lot of work, it was years of work, so 63 00:04:17,950 --> 00:04:22,110 it wasn't wasted, everything worked out according to plan. >>MIKE: Hubble 64 00:04:22,130 --> 00:04:26,230 is a great project with amazing people, and we were able to prove it that day. 65 00:04:26,250 --> 00:04:30,410 [music] 66 00:04:30,430 --> 00:04:34,590 >>KATRINA: The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important scientific instruments 67 00:04:34,610 --> 00:04:38,760 in all of human history, so to think about possibly messing something up 68 00:04:38,780 --> 00:04:42,950 on the telescope is terrifying. This was not the first or last time 69 00:04:42,970 --> 00:04:47,120 that NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center took action to keep Hubble up and running. 70 00:04:47,140 --> 00:04:51,210 So stay tuned for more memorable moments from Hubble's 25 years. 71 00:04:51,230 --> 00:04:55,380 [music fades out] [satellite beeping] 72 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,560 [satellite beeping] 73 00:04:59,580 --> 00:05:01,548