STS-125/HST SM-4 Status Report No. 04 (Forwarded)

STS-125 MCC Status Report #04
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 4 a.m. CDT

The crew of Atlantis is ready to meet up with the Hubble Space Telescope 340
miles above the Earth today. The crew awoke to "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson
at 4:01 a.m. CDT. The song was played for Megan McArthur.

Overnight, Hubble's high gain antenna was retracted in preparation for
Atlantis' arrival. Shortly before the shuttle arrives in the vicinity of
Hubble, ground teams will command the telescope to maneuver to its grapple
attitude in preparation for berthing in the shuttle's payload bay.

Atlantis is scheduled to perform the engine burn that will begin its final
approach to the telescope at 9:41 a.m., and grapple of the telescope is
scheduled for 11:54 a.m. while the two spacecraft are travelling over
Madagascar.

The crew will wrap up its day by performing a visual survey of the telescope
once it is berthed in the payload bay, and all crew members will conduct a
review of the procedures for Thursday's first spacewalk. The crew also will
finish up the check out of the tools necessary for the mission's five
consecutive spacewalks.

Engineers continue to examine the images captured during Tuesday's
inspection of Atlantis' thermal protection system and exterior surfaces.
During that inspection, mission managers noted one area of damage on the
forward part of the spacecraft where the wing blends into the fuselage.
Initially it appears to be very minor and of no concern for the mission, and
the flight team notified the crew late Tuesday that no focused inspection of
that particular area is necessary.

The STS-125 crew will begin its sleep period at 7:31 p.m. and awaken at 3:31
a.m. Thursday. The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of
the crew's day or earlier, if events warrant.