This iconic space telescope provided amazing views of our universe, but required repair and upgrading through the EVA work of astronauts who visited on the Space Shuttles.
Astronauts used this caddy to hold seven small bits for their 3/8-inch drive tool while repairing two failed instruments on the telescope during the 2009 servicing mission.
Lent by NASA
Similar to a long screwdriver, this tool has a special round handle for use with astronaut gloves. The rotating loop on the end is for attaching a tether to prevent the tool from accidentally floating away.
Lent by NASA
This high-torque power tool was a staple of the first three servicing missions to the telescope. With speed, torque, and number of rotations controlled by its computer, the astronaut used the tool to apply or remove fasteners.
Lent by NASA
Handrails provide a safe path and sturdy anchors for astronauts working outside a spacecraft. They also serve as handles for equipment to give astronauts a secure hold on large components, such as the Hubble's scientific instruments. Their yellow color makes them easy to see against the white, silver, and black materials normally used on spacecraft and payloads.
Transferred from NASA
Foot restraints ensured the safety and effectiveness of astronauts working on the Hubble. When attached to the end of the robotic arm, this device became a mobile work station. The optional handhold could be attached for additional stability and tool storage. This unit flew on multiple servicing missions, most notably during the last trip to repair the Hubble in 2009.
Transferred from NASA
Using the foot restraint seen here, astronaut Andrew Feustel prepared to use a power tool to start repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in 2009.
Story Musgrave works on the Hubble Space Telescope from the Space Shuttle's robotic Canadarm during the first Hubble servicing mission in 1993. Astronauts spent hundreds of EVA hours on five separate missions upgrading the telescope. Tethered to the Hubble or secured to the robotic arm, they installed new components that vastly extended the lifespan and capabilities of the only human-tended space telescope.
Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss astronaut, worked with a large power drill to repair the Hubble Space Telescope during STS-103 in 1999.
Artist Michael Soluri worked with the STS-125 crew prior to their Hubble servicing mission to think like photographers. This photograph by and of John Grunsfeld reflects literally the scope of repairing the iconic space telescope.
Framed by an aft flight deck window, astronaut Mike Massimino takes a break from repairs to the Hubble during STS-125.
A portion of the Earth, a sunburst, and astronaut Joseph Tanner are elegantly featured in this photograph by Greg Harbaugh during Discovery's 1997 visit to the Hubble.
Next to a mass of plugs and wires in the Hubble's Power Control Unit, astrophysicist astronaut John Grunsfeld wields an array of tools stored on his suit-mounted work station during the STS-109 mission in 1999.
