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Shuttle "Atlantis" undocked from "Hubble".. / May 20, 2009 /

Shuttle «Atlantis» undocked from a telescope «Hubble» NASA TV informs. Undock operation supervised over Megan McArthur. To deduce a telescope from a cargo compartment of a shuttle have begun at 15:26 Moscow time. Returning of astronauts to the Earth is planned on Friday on May, 22nd, 2009.

Astronauts have finished work on a telescope on May, 19th, 2009. In total the crew has made five extravehicular activity. Average duration of everyone made approximately 8 hours.

During works astronauts have established the new chamber instead of old, have partially repaired the basic chamber of a telescope (Advanced Camera for Surveys), and also have equipped «Hubble» sensitive ultra-violet спектрографом (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph). Besides they have replaced a sheeting of the device and its accumulators. The last did not vary from the start of a telescope in space, that is 19 years. The total cost of the new equipment makes 220 million dollars.

The shuttle «Atlantis» started on May, 11th, 2009. Onboard the device there are 7 astronauts. The primary goals of mission of a shuttle was telescope repair, and also installation on it of the new equipment. Initially start has been planned for October, 2008, however was some times postponed.

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