June 30, 2006

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726

Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-7745

RELEASE: 06-272

NASA ISSUES HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE STATUS REPORT

NASA engineers successfully activated the Advanced Camera for Surveys
at 9:12 a.m. EDT Friday aboard the agency's Hubble Space Telescope.
Checkout was completed at 10:20 a.m. EDT with science observations
scheduled to resume Sunday, July 2.

"This is the best possible news," said Ed Ruitberg, deputy associate
director for the Astrophysics Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Md. "We were confident we could work through the
camera issue, and now we can get back to doing more incredible
science with the camera."

Engineers began uploading commands to the instrument Thursday, June
29, in an effort to restore operational status. A pre-programmed
observing timeline for normal camera science operations will begin
executing at approximately 8 p.m. EDT on July 2.

Engineers received indications on Monday, June 19, that power supply
voltages were out of acceptable limits, causing the camera to stop
functioning. The instrument was taken off line, so engineers could
study the problem and determine the appropriate remedy. Hubble
observations continued using other onboard science instruments.

The third-generation Hubble instrument consists of three electronic
cameras, filters and dispersers that detect light from the
ultraviolet to the near infrared. Astronauts installed the camera
during a servicing mission in March 2002. It was developed jointly by
Goddard, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Ball Aerospace,
Boulder, Colo.; and the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore.


For information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble


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