4 THE FINAL FRONTIER On On May 11 2009 space shuttle Atlantis sat on a launchpad at Cape Canaveral Florida Inside a crew of seven astronauts strapped down tight The rockets started Flames and clouds of smoke poured from the craft as it lifted off from Earth Space Shuttles NASA built five space shuttles which flew a total of 135 missions Each held seven crew members They carried satellites and parts of the International Space Station into space Two shuttles were destroyed In 2011 NASA grounded the remaining shuttles
5 The ship sailed through the air shedding its two rockets and fuel tank when they were no longer needed It left the atmosphere and entered space Atlantis began to orbit Earth The crew had an important mission They needed to repair the Hubble Space Telescope which had been in space for almost 30 years
6 Atlantis chased after Hubble and caught it two days later Atlantis grabbed the telescope with a robotic arm Linked the two continued to orbit Earth together Cameras on Atlantis took pictures of the telescope while astronauts suited up for a spacewalk Hubble's six batteries normally get their power from two solar panels that stretch from the telescope like wings
7 The astronauts repaired parts on Hubble They charged the telescope's batteries They also added new parts including scientific instruments and a device to help future missions capture Hubble more easily After five spacewalks the robot arm returned Hubble back into orbit Atlantis returned to Earth Hubble Spies on the Universe On Earth the atmosphere alters light coming from outer space From orbit Hubble can use its giant telescope to take much clearer images of the cosmos Hubble has photographed monster black holes and studied distant planets Since 1990 when the space shuttle Discovery placed Hubble in space astronauts have captured the telescope five times for repairs
