Exclusive: STS-125 Landing HUD Cockpit View, Crew Audio

STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission lasted a total of just under 13 days. 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, a date which was later updated to “possibly until 2018“ - a prediction which has fortunately been realized. The STS-125 crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection to Hubble, 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. Additionally, the mission carried an IMAX camera with which the crew documented the progress of the mission for the Hubb