Two astronomy space missions to launch May 2009

The coming week promises to be an exciting one for space-astro-geeks, with two separate astronomy-related space missions scheduled for launch. On Monday, May 11th, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis will lift off, carrying astronauts to the Hubble Space Telescope to perform the fifth and final servicing mission, installing two new instruments and carrying out various repairs. Full story here:

Servicing Mission 4 - the fifth and final visit to Hubble

Then on Thursday, May 14th, an Ariane 5 rocket will take off from the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying a dual payload for the European Space Agency: the Herschel space telescope which will observe the heavens in the far-infrared part of the spectrum, and the Planck telescope which will monitor the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation - the first light emitted by the early Universe. More here:

ESA to launch two large observatories to look deep into space and time

More about Herschel

More about Planck

Update: Atlantis was launched on Monday as scheduled, and made rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope just over 4 hours ago. The telescope was "captured" successfully, and is now in the shuttle's cargo bay, where astronauts will go to work on it in 5 spacewalks scheduled for the next days.
Read all about the mission on NASA's web site: NASA - Hubble Servicing Mission 4

And follow the mission live on NASA TV.

The Herschel/Planck launch is scheduled for Thursday, May 14th, at 15:12 (CEST). ESA will provide live web streaming of the event, starting at 14:40 and continuing until 15:52.

Five hours from the launch of Herschel.
I am enjoying the adrenaline rush...

Update: Herschel and Planck were launched successfully on Thursday, and are now on their way to their destination at a point 1.5 million km from Earth, from which they will observe the cosmos.

Meanwhile, the NASA astronauts are busy repairing, replacing and installing stuff on the Hubble Space Telescope. The fourth (of five) spacewalks is currently in progress. See and hear the astronauts at work, live on NASA TV. Check it out - it's awesome!

Nice photo of the space shuttle Atlantis on its way to Hubble.

Picture taken from Earth as the shuttle transits in front of the Sun.



By amateur astrophotographer Thierry Legault.

This one, by the same guy, is even better. The shuttle AND Hubble.

The Herschel people are switching on one of the instruments...another adrenaline rush...

This is the first image of Herschel/PACS:
Herschel gives glimpse of power (BBC News)

Here is the press release:
http://tinyurl.com/mlxcy2