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By the year 2002, Hubble had done 
more than make a name for itself.

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Hubble had changed how we see the 
very fabric of the universe around us.

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Galaxies became familiar neighborhoods to
explore, far off planets felt like old friends,

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and nebulas, a beautiful sight to behold.

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And with Servicing Mission 4 coming up
quickly, the excitement was almost palpable

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for the new wonders Hubble was about to uncover
with its state of the art upgrades.

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That was, until Servicing Mission 4 was... canceled.

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Hubble’s Servicing Mission 4, originally
planned for the year 2004, was designed to bring Hubble’s

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scientific equipment to its peak performance.

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This would ensure Hubble would stay operational
as long as possible, since this would be the

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last servicing mission.

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However, in the early stages of preparing
for this important mission, disaster struck.

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"The loss of this valiant crew is something
we will never be able to get over, and

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certainly the families of all of them. We
have assured, we will do everything, everything

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we can possibly do to guarantee that they
work their way through this horrific tragedy."

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The world was shocked after the brave crew
on Space Shuttle Columbia was lost upon re-entry

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through Earth’s atmosphere on its way home.

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Soon after, former NASA Administrator, Sean
O'Keefe, canceled Hubble’s final servicing

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mission over concerns about the safety of
Hubble's servicing astronauts.

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NASA tried to keep the spirit of Hubble alive
by switching to an

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entirely remote robotic servicing mission,

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but concluded that it would be too expensive
and would not be developed in time to be useful

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to Hubble before it would become non-operational.

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"Just under three years ago, NASA had to announce
a very troubling decision, that decision being

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to cancel shuttle Servicing Mission 4 for
the Hubble Space Telescope. And today I am

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here to announce a much more pleasant decision
on behalf of the agency. We are going to add

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a shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble
Space Telescope to the shuttle's manifest to

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be flown before it retires."

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The news everybody was waiting for. Servicing
Mission 4 was reinstated, and more ready than ever.

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"It's a great day to go fly, it's a great mission, good luck, Godspeed, and we'll see you back here in about 11 days."

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Servicing Mission 4 was going to be one
of Hubble’s most ambitious missions to date.

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Right away, the astronauts of Servicing Mission
4 were tasked with installing a brand-new

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instrument into Hubble: Wide Field 
Camera Three.

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But this instrument didn’t go in without
a fight.

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One singular bolt stood in the way of installing
this instrument.

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"Yep, I think I got it! It turned! 
It definitely turned!"

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This new panchromatic camera would allow astronomers
to better understand galaxy evolution, dark

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matter, and dark energy.

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Next up to bat was installing another new
instrument: the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.

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This would be the most sensitive spectrograph
ever flown on Hubble, allowing us to peer even

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further into the ultraviolet spectrum.

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But the punches Hubble threw weren’t finished yet.

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Both the Advanced Camera for Surveys, ACS, and
the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, STIS,

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needed to be repaired following recent failures.
But these instruments weren't designed to be repaired

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in space! Astronauts had to open up both instruments
and perform “surgery” to fix them.

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The ACS repair went well, but when it came time
to operate on STIS, Hubble threw another hurdle

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in the way. Before astronauts could repair
STIS, they needed to remove a handrail.

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But a screw on that handrail got stripped,
and it wouldn’t come off.

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After some quick thinking by engineers on
the ground, astronaut Mike Massimino was able

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to use brute force to pull the handrail off
and access STIS.

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"It’s off! Disposal bag, please."

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An unconventional, yet effective 
method of getting the job done,

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and the STIS repair was a success.

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Not only that, the astronauts of Serving Mission
4 replaced gyroscopes, batteries, a

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failed computer, installed new thermal blankets,
and a soft-capture mechanism to allow for a future

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robotic spacecraft to dock with Hubble and
send it to its final resting place when its

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mission is over.

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Servicing Mission 4 made Hubble 
better than it ever had been before.

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And it wouldn’t be without the 
crews of people in space

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and on the ground that allowed 
for that dream to become a reality.

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And because of those people, to this day, 
Hubble continues to expand our knowledge

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and wonder about the universe surrounding us.

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The Hubble Space Telescope, a piece of engineering and astronomical majesty,

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once again released to uncover the secrets of the universe for many years to come.

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[ SILENCE ]