I ask Musgrave if the EVAs were hard. “You’ve got to reward the people that do all the work.”, The repair mission had a record-breaking five spacewalks. His four previous space missions as a flight engineer were totally different, carrying primary responsibility for Shuttle systems. A gallery of some of Hubble's greatest hits: the … Musgrave’s biography is full of anecdotes and inspirational events. Dr. Story Musgrave - Space Shuttle Endeavour, Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission The most dramatic of Dr. Story Musgrave’s space missions was his fifth flight on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Following a night launch from Kennedy Space Center on December 2, 1993, the Endeavour rendezvoused with and captured Hubble. “Astronaut F. Story Musgrave (top right center) works with a restraint device near the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during the first of five STS-61 extravehicular activities (EVA). Story Musgrave has an insatiable passion for life. But this was American taxpayers’ money and the faulty machine was in space. NASA EXPERIENCE:Dr. Musgrave was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. In addition to clocking thousands of hours in outer space, Musgrave is a retired trauma surgeon, pilot, landscape architect, mechanic, concept artist, design professor, business owner, farmer, and father of seven. Thirty years ago this week, the venerable Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. “I tried to disempower myself, because if you’re too powerful the right answers don’t come,” he says. Astronaut F. Story Musgrave, one of two STS-6 mission specialists, participates in a safety tether dynamics checkout procedure during the mission’s April 7 extravehicular activity (EVA). By June 1990, when Nasa realised the seriousness of the situation, it described the mirror defect as a “spherical aberration”. Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on 2 December 1993. How did the Hubble Space Telescope come about? During his visit, he described his upcoming space walk and planned instrument installation. He completed astronaut academic training and then worked on the design and development of the Skylab Program. Hubble became the butt of jokes, featuring in comedy stand-up routines. “Hubble bridges a gap between cosmology, theology, philosophy and astronomy.”, “It tends to shed a light on who we are. The left hand of astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman appears at the lower left corner. And who humanity is.”. This was by far one of the most important and complicated mission to face NASA. Story Musgrave had worked on the development of the Hubble Space Telescope from its inception in the mid-1970s to launch in April 1990. From his childhood on a dairy farm in western Massachusetts, to payload commander on the Hubble Space Telescope rescue mission, share Story s incredible physical and spiritual journey as he relates to the world, and the universe, around him. “Hopefully you’ve had enough imagination on the ground to see how it’s going to be and then it flows very nicely,” he says. Most serious among a catalogue of flaws – including communications, component and electronic failures – was a fault with the primary mirror. Mission duration was 5 days, 23 minutes, 42 seco… “You never can tell if it was a natural selection,” he says, but having done the first-ever Shuttle spacewalk, he seemed a logical choice. One of only a handful of astronauts to complete six space missions, he was payload commander on mission STS-61: the mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope’s mirror. The 1993 servicing mission was the first, of five missions, to upgrade the Hubble Telescope. “Th… “It’s no more than a day’s work,” he says. What he did not know, was the space telescope that promised so much had some serious quality control issues. Story Musgrave recalls his experiences as part of the team to repair the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror. Musgrave, selected to lead the repairs on the mission, had previously communicated with the STS-31 crew from Mission Control and had worked on the space telescope since 1975. A picture of the telescope can even be glimpsed on the wall – alongside disasters including the Hindenburg and Titanic – in a blues club scene in the 1991 hit movie Naked Gun 2½. Hubble Docked with the Shuttle Endeavor (1993) Astronaut F. Story Musgrave, anchored on the Space Shuttle Endeavor's robotic arm, prepares to be elevated to the top of the Hubble Space Telescope during Hubble's first servicing mission in 1993. The only problem they encountered was closing the instrument compartment doors. “We had very few surprises as we went along.”. “Most of Hubble’s failures should never have happened,” Musgrave says. “They didn’t want any spacewalker on STS-61 to be the flight engineer. As a result (and by Nasa’s own admission) Hubble’s first servicing mission, STS-61, was to become one of the most challenging and complex crewed spaceflights ever attempted. The servicing mission transformed a media narrative of Nasa’s incompetence into one of triumph. Four years after the Challenger disaster, Nasa found itself once again at the centre of a political storm and “negligence” was one of the milder words being bandied around by journalists, commentators and politicians. “There were 13 systems broken, so that dictates the mission and what we could’ve done,” Musgrave explains. During this maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Challenger, the crew performed the first Shuttle deployment of an IUS/TDRS satellite, and Musgrave and Don Peterson conducted the first Space Shuttle extra-vehicular activity(EVA) to test the new space suits and construction and repair devices and procedures. Its release from the spacecraft didn’t go … You go up, you grab the telescope, and for a week, you’re watching these astronauts going out in spacesuits, doing five spacewalks, taking hardware out and putting hardware in, and it was just fascinating,” said Dunham. “It had so many darned problems as soon as it got into space.”, The repairs were carried out in orbit some 600 kilometres (370 miles) above Earth (Credit: Nasa). A veteran of the US Marine Corps with academic degrees in six subjects, from maths to medicine, F. Story Musgrave became NASA’s preeminent authority on spacewalks. Astronaut Story Musgrave works on the Hubble Space Telescope. Story Musgrave, Actor: Mission to Mars. On STS-61, Story Musgrave performed three of the five space walks to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. One of the most famous and most versatile NASA astronauts. This meant the $1.6bn (£1.06bn) observatory was unable to properly focus. Musgrave and Hoffman carried out three spacewalks, alternating with their colleagues Kathryn Thornton and Tom Akers. Story Musgrave, who had worked on Hubble's development since the early 1970s, served as lead spacewalker. Eventually, Hubble was fixed. Story Musgrave Me I Am People And so, I was not a military test pilot, but as soon as NASA expressed an interest in flying scientists and people who were not military test pilots, that was an epiphany that just came like a stroke of lightning. “You look to the heavens for what the meaning of life is down here,” says Musgrave. You design it not to be special and not to be hard work, then you choreograph it.”. He first flew on STS-6, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, on April 4, 1983, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, on April 9, 1983. Watch how Hubble allows us to see further into the past than ever before in this clip from Horizon. Astronauts Kathryn Thornton and Thomas Akers set out on the second spacewalk to replace one of the telescope’s solar panels, which had begun to list. You reserve the physical strength for performance margin, but I’m a total wimp. Three days later, the spacecraft rendezvoused with Hubble and Swiss European Space Agency astronaut Claude Nicollier used the robotic arm to capture the faulty telescope and park it in the payload bay. What was wrong with Hubble’s mirror, and how was it fixed. “During its development they told me to identify every possible failure it could get into and come up with the spacewalk and tools to fix each one of those failures,” Musgrave explains. That was why spacewalk expert Musgrave had been assigned to the project in the first place. Backed by hundreds of engineers, technicians and controllers on the ground, during the 11-day mission, the Shuttle crew carried out five back-to-back EVAs, notching-up some 35 hours and 28 minutes outside the spacecraft. Selected in 1967, he took part in as many as six Space Shuttle missions.He left NASA in … “I could’ve done back-to-back spacewalks every day for five or six days.”. If the problems with Hubble represented the worst of Nasa, then STS-61 showed the agency at its best. STS-61 was the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.The mission launched on 2 December 1993 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Nasa either needed to write it off or fix it. The Hubble telescope was launched in April 1990. “You’re never too busy if you’re an explorer,” he says. “The American public had never seen a mission like this. An astronaut, … Musgrave and Hoffman carried out one of the longest spacewalk missions in Nasa history (Credit: Nasa). However, the Nasa space telescope that has transformed our view of the Universe was launched with a major defect. An interview with former astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave reflecting on the Hubble Space Telescope's anniversary, and his career. They wanted us to concentrate on fixing Hubble – to concentrate on the back of the bus.”. Share this story on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. Musgrave choreographed every detail down to the last screw or bolt. In space shuttle history, there is one astronaut who bears the distinction of having flown … Now Musgrave was tasked with leading an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) team that would enable Hubble to fulfil its potential. Richard Hollingham talks to the man who had to don his spacesuit and make it work. Our special issue Hubble: 30 Years of Discovery is out now. Why did astronauts service the Hubble Space Telescope? “I was looking at the whole continent of Australia. In fact the serious glitches, faults and defects experienced by Hubble are now described in the history section of its official website as “teething problems” – an understatement, perhaps, given the potential gravity of the situation. “The best solution comes democratically. Musgrave was the astronaut who installed WFPC2 (with Materion filters) in Hubble as part of Servicing Mission 1, his fifth space flight. Ever since, it has been providing astronomers with breathtaking images of the cosmos Story Musgrave Us Space Program Mars Space Space Shuttle Space Exploration Science And Nature Astronaut Nasa Interview “You design for not having physical strength. An investigation concluded that, during manufacturing, the mirror’s edges had been polished slightly too flat. Before becoming an astronaut, he worked as an electrician, a mathematician, a computer programmer, a … This article originally appeared in Hubble: 30 Years of Discovery, a new special edition magazine available now. How Mission Control works is the whole team plays with the data, you challenge each other and finally converge on the right solution.” Musgrave wanted to be one of the gang. Astronaut Story Musgrave, who led the first Hubble repair mission in 1993, told CNN's John Holliman in a live Monday morning interview from Houston that the Discovery crew was doing "an A … The only sense of fear of heights that I have ever had in spaceflight was looking from the arm down into the payload bay and thinking I could fall.”. By the beginning of 1992, while engineers developed a new instrument to counter the “aberration”, Musgrave’s team had started to plan the rescue mission. “People assume you’ve got the right answers and they don’t dare challenge the answers, so that’s why I refused the title of EV1. December 8, 1993 Hubble Telescope Repair Mission, Day 5 Space Shuttle Endeavour’s astronauts Story Musgrave and Jeffrey Hoffman conducted repairs and upgrades to the Hubble Space Telescope. Thanks to the crew and support staff of STS-61, Hubble has become one of the most significant and important space missions of all time. And, for Musgrave, the space telescope has become much more than a science mission. One of only a handful of astronauts to complete six space missions, he was payload commander on mission STS-61: the mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope’s mirror. Musgrave was also the oldest spacewalker, aged 58. This was the first space walk from a Space Shuttle. In the years since, Hubble’s near-disastrous early years have been largely forgotten. Story has flown more than 170 different types of aircraft, he is the only astronaut to fly all five space shuttle aircraft, he fixed the Hubble telescope, and he has flown more than 25 million miles in orbit around our planet. The mission launched on December 2, 1993 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Hubble celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. Astronaut F. Story Musgrave moves about in Space Shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay during the deployment of the solar array panels on the Hubble Space Telescope during the final of five STS-61 spacewalks. He was the backup science-pilot for the first Skylab mission, and was a CAPCOM for the second and third Skylab missions. “I design them to be done by anybody without physical force, so you have margin if you run into a surprise.”. “The most important deployment in history; a huge mission. There’s no such thing as too busy.”. Musgrave performed the first space shuttle space walk in 1983 on Challenger’s maiden flight. Spacewalking was “…outrageous for sure”, especially working on the Shuttle’s robot arm. “They weren’t hard, they were easy,” says the straight-talking astronaut. Click here to buy. An astronaut, doctor and scientist (he has seven graduate degrees, including maths and medicine), Musgrave understood every system, instrument and component; every panel, nut and bolt. The next day, Musgrave and fellow astronaut Jeff Hoffman donned their spacesuits to begin one of the longest EVAs in space history. If Hubble were a new car you would take it straight back to the dealer and demand a refund. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision (marred by spherical aberration in its mirror) with the installation of a new main camera and a corrective optics package. Story Musgrave had worked on the development of the Hubble Space Telescope from its inception in the mid-1970s to launch in April 1990. ‘How we fixed Hubble’: An interview with former astronaut Story Musgrave, the mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope’s mirror, ‘How we serviced Hubble’: astronaut Mike Massimino on fixing the famous space telescope. Ben Evans is a science and space writer. Ten years later, he was the lead space walker during the first mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. He is not only a medical doctor, but also a chemist, mathematician, biophysicist, physiologist and computer scientist. “You’re looking at the Earth go by, you’re looking at the aurora, at the stars and you’re experiencing the doing itself. The next day, Hoffman and payload commander Story Musgrave embarked on the mission’s first spacewalk, during which Hoffman, anchored to the robotic arm, replaced two gyroscopes on the telescope. “I did not identify [the mirror] as a possible failure… but I should have.”. Read about our approach to external linking. Hubble's images have shed new light on the origins of the Universe (Credit: Nasa). As astronauts Richard Covey, Kenneth Bowersox, Kathryn Thornton, Story Musgrave, Claude Nicollier, Jeff Hoffman and Tom Akers captured Hubble in orbit and moved it into the shuttle bay for repair, the world watched a historic event unfold. As the crew began its spacewalk training in the giant water tank in Houston, the list of failures on board the ailing telescope was getting longer and the required repairs more numerous. With his expertise, Musgrave should have been ‘EV1’, the chief spacewalker, but he rejected it. The whole world was waiting for the results,” says Story Musgrave of the STS-61 mission. A veteran of the US Marine Corps with academic degrees in six subjects, from maths to medicine, F. Story Musgrave became NASA’s preeminent authority on spacewalks. With a fully functioning Hubble Space Telescope released back into its orbit, politicians who had been so critical of Nasa became the first to congratulate the returning astronauts. Despite the work involved, Musgrave even had time to appreciate his unique situation. Story Musgrave was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967 (Credits: NASA). Anchored to the robotic arm 600 kilometres (370 miles) above the Earth, they spent almost eight hours replacing gyroscopes, control units and electrical circuits. “The real heroics of the fix were done on the ground, to get the details right – when you build a good plan, you follow the plan,” says Musgrave. Fortunately, the agency had always intended that the space telescope would be regularly serviced and updated in orbit. “If it’s a demanding day’s work, you haven’t designed it right. When astronaut Story Musgrave opened one of the doors on Hubble to install a new camera, the door would not close, so Musgrave and the other astronauts had to think of a creative way to get around the problem. Story Musgrave Profile Musgrave is NASA's longest-serving astronaut and the specialist who repaired the Hubble Telescope. In 1992, Materion’s Westford, MA facility welcomed an honored visitor - astronaut Story Musgrave.