Columbia Dawn
Credit & Copyright:
Credit
A. Barrett,
KSC,
NASA
Explanation:
Trailing
a thick column of exhaust, the Space Shuttle
Columbia
blasted
into the twilight morning sky on March 1, its
thundering rockets
briefly flooding a cloud bank
with the light of a false dawn.
The event marked the start of the
ongoing eleven day mission to
upgrade
the
Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble's upgrades include the installation
of new solar arrays and a
new camera.
Columbia's
crew is scheduled to complete the work
today in the last of five
space walks.
Columbia's launch also marks the
first flight of the oldest
operating space shuttle after receiving extensive
upgrades
itself, designed to increase
its capabilities for missions to low Earth orbit.
The shuttle landing is expected at Kennedy Space Center on March 12.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
