THE Hubble Space Telescope has been launched on a new voyage of discovery after Nasa completed a maintenance mission hailed as a "tour de force of tools and human ingenuity".
The space shuttle Atlantis released its grip on the 24,500lb observatory in a farewell operation 350 miles above the coast of Africa yesterday, having nursed it in its cargo bay for a week and travelled three million miles around the Earth with it, a
s shuttle astronauts carried out five spacewalks to overhaul its instruments.
The servicing mission has left Hubble more powerful than ever as it "sees" back billions of light years into deep space and can now gather data at 30 times the volume it did before Atlantis's mercy mission.
"Hubble has been released. It's safely back on its journey of exploration as we begin steps to conclude ours," reported shuttle commander Scott Altman, who is due to land Atlantis back at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Friday.
Meanwhile, in a poignant move, one of the astronauts responsible for originally deploying the iconic Hubble from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990 was summoned to the White House yesterday, amid speculation that he is set to be nominated as the new head of Nasa.
Major-General Charles Bolden, 62, met President Barack Obama to talk over the $177,000 (£114,000) appointment. If confirmed, he would become the first African-American to head the US space programme, inheriting leadership at a crucial time for the agency.
The president has recently ordered an independent review of Nasa's vision for space exploration, bringing fresh scrutiny to its plans to retire its shuttle fleet next year and signalling a potential shake-up of a replacement vehicle that is scheduled to return man to the Moon by 2020.
Major-Gen Bolden spent 680 hours in space during a 13-year career with Nasa, which he left in 1994, and retired from the Marine Corps in 2003.
Hailing him as "a man of integrity and accomplishment", Congressman Pete Olson, who represents Houston, the home of Nasa's Johnson Space Centre, stated: "Nasa needs someone who can master the management, technical and budgetary challenges the agency is facing, and be a strong advocate for a vibrant American space programme.
"I have no doubt Charlie Bolden can do those things."
Servicing Hubble is seen as one of the shuttle programme's most daring success stories and has necessitated a cast of thousands on the ground.
Scientists and mission controllers swapped handshakes and high-fives at news of its successful return to autonomous orbit yesterday.
"Congratulations on a great series of spacewalks. It's great to see Hubble, the most famous scientific instrument of all time, upgraded and ready for action thanks to you," Dan Burbank, the voice of Nasa's mission control in Houston, radioed to the crew of Atlantis.
The 19-year-old telescope is now expected to remain in service for at least another five years, possibly ten.
"Hubble has returned to ship-shape status and it now has a full arsenal of instruments and tools for astronomers to use to make new discoveries," said John Morse, director of Nasa's astrophysics division.
"We have literally thousands of astronomers out there waiting to use its capabilities."
Hubble will never again be touched by man. John Grunsfeld, one of four Atlantis astronauts who carried out the repairs, gave it a fond pat farewell during a fifth and final spacewalk late on Monday and said its repair was a "tour de force of tools and human ingenuity".
"As Arthur C Clarke says, the only way of finding the limits on the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible," he said, speaking into a microphone in his space helmet.
"And on this mission, we tried some things that many people said were impossible."
