Astronauts fix broken camera on Hubble telescope

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Spacewalking astronauts gave the Hubble Space Telescope a more commanding view of the cosmos by installing a new high-tech instrument Saturday, then pulled off their toughest job yet: fixing a broken camera.

It was the third spacewalk in three days for the shuttle Atlantis crew and the most intricate ever performed because of the unprecedented camera repairs. Astronauts had never before tried to take apart a science instrument at the 19-year-old observatory.

Hubble’s chief mechanic, John Grunsfeld, deftly opened up the burned-out camera and plucked out all four electronic cards that needed to be replaced.

“Somehow I don’t think brain surgeons go ‘woo-hoo’ when they pull something out,” one of the astronauts observed from inside Atlantis.

To everyone’s surprise, the new cards and power supply pack went in just as smoothly. In fact, the astronauts found themselves running ahead of schedule for a change, their spacewalk lasting the allotted 61‚Ñ2 hours. The first two spacewalks ended up running long because of unexpected difficulties encountered with Hubble, last visited seven years ago.