FLIGHT CREW AND EMBLEM

STS-125 crew selection

The seven STS-125 astronauts were named  by NASA to the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission SM4 on 31 October 2006. Commanding the mission was Scott Altman with Gregory Johnson as Pilot and John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur as Mission Specialists.

Previous experience in Hubble operations was reflected in the fact that Altman, Grunsfeld and Massimino had all flown together on the previous service mission (SM 3B) STS-109 in 2002. Grunsfeld had also flown on the  STS-103 (SM3A) in 1999 mission as well as two previous missions in 1995 (STS-65) and 1997 (STS-81).  Altman also had completed two other spaceflights in 1998 (STS-90) and 2000 (STS-106). The remaining crew members were all on their first spaceflight which allowed them to gain spaceflight experience before the retirement of the Shuttle in 2010 and moving on to the new Constellation programme or support ISS operations.

Altman, Johnson and McArthur as MS2/Flight Engineer would serve as the Flight Deck crew whilst the other four would form the EVA crew. Five EVAs were planned. To identify each astronaut during the EVAs they wore suits with different markings. Grunsfeld (EV1) spacesuit had solid red stripes. Feustel (EV2) had no marking (called solid white). Massimino (MS3) would wear a suit with broken horizontal red stripes whist Good (EV4) had a suit with barber pole red stripes.

The spacewalkers trained to work in teams of two alternating their EVAs to allow rest between excursions and supporting the team outside. The pairing was made with one experienced EVA astronaut and a rookie to help spread the skills and leadership. McArthur was trained as primary RMS operator to retrieve and redeploy the Hubble and support the EVAs from the aft flight deck.

EVA1 Grunsfeld and Feustel

EVA2 Massimino and Good

EVA3 Grunsfeld and Feustel

EVA4 Massimino and Good

EVA5 Grunsfeld and Feustel

STS-125 Mission Emblem

The upright elliptical emblem  for the mission shows Hubble with its field of view of the planets, stars and galaxies that allows for the study of the structure and composition of the universe, the primary mission of the telescope. The black in the design reflected the fields of exploration into the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter. The studies into the red-shift glow of the early universe are represented by the red border of the emblem. Soaring by the telescope is the space shuttle symbolic of the vehicle that placed the observatory into space in 1990 and for the service missions designed to keep the facility operating for almost 20 years. The red, white and blue used on the emblem could also be interpreted at the pride the Americans have in the Hubble telescope and the black as the void of space and the mysteries of the unknown Hubble has helped to unlock and hopefully will continue to do so for some years to come hopefully past 2013. Traditionally the surnames of the flight crew feature around  the emblems border.