A breakdown aboard the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope will delay the final space shuttle mission to upgrade and repair the aging telescope, which was scheduled to launch on October 14. NASA said today that the malfunction of a command and data-handling system
means the telescope is unable to capture and beam down the data used to produce its stunning deep space images for which the Hubble is famous [Orlando Sentinel]
. NASA officials said that system can't be fixed remotely but added that they're currently trying to activate a backup system. The space shuttle Atlantis is already on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for its trip to the Hubble, but NASA says the unexpected glitch may delay the shuttle's mission until early next year.
Whenever Atlantis does fly, NASA may send up a replacement part for the failed component. It would take time to test and ...
