NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mission: STS-125
Orbiter: Atlantis
Primary Payload: Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4
Launch Date: May 11, 2009
Launch Time: 2:01 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39A
Mission Duration: 13 days
Landing Date: May 24, 2009
Landing Time: 11:39 a.m. EDT
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Inclination/Altitude: 28.5 degrees/304 nautical miles

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STS-125: Hubble's Last Visit

Image above: Banks of trees and bushes provide a frame for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph-Kevin O'Connell
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Image above: Space shuttle Atlantis touches down on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Image credit: NASA/Carla Thomas
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Image above: After a two-day trip from Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and its piggyback passenger, space shuttle Atlantis, approach the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
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Carrying a crew of seven astronauts, space shuttle Atlantis began the STS-125 mission with a brilliant, on-time launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 11, 2009.

The final servicing mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was originally set for launch in October 2008, but was delayed when equipment aboard Hubble failed just a few weeks before liftoff. With the replacement unit added to the payload, the crew was ready for the challenges of working on the orbiting observatory.

The mission included five spacewalks on consecutive days, completing all the mission's objectives for servicing and replacing some of Hubble's key instruments and equipment and extending its life well into the next decade.

Originally planned as an 11-day mission, the Florida weather that favored launch did not hold for landing. With relentless rain and storms plaguing the Space Coast, landing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility was waved off for three consecutive days, prompting a touchdown at the alternative landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California, on May 24.

When the STS-125 astronauts' nearly 5.3-million mile journey ended, it marked the final time that humans will touch the legendary telescope.

On June 2, after a two-day ferry flight from Edwards, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft brought Atlantis back to its home base in Florida. The carrier and its piggyback passenger landed at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway.