Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!sun-barr!sun!aeras!tneale
From: tneale@aeras.UUCP (Tom Neale)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Hubble Space Telescope
Keywords: HST
Message-ID: <351@aeras.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jul 89 01:11:38 GMT
Organization: Arix Corporation, San Jose, Ca
Lines: 57

Well, I got lucky.  I actually got to see the Hubble Space Telescope
while it is still here on Earth.  I won't bore you all with the details
of how I managed to get in...it's a secret anyway.

It is in a high bay at Lockheed in Sunnyvale, CA.  The bay is a clean
room and was described to me as a Class 10,000 room (not all that clean).
It is easily the largest clean room I have ever seen as it is about
4 stories tall and then about 50'x150'.  They change the air in there
every 90 seconds!  The entire west wall is filters (yes, 4 stories tall).

Since a test was in progress on the vehicle I couldn't get into the bay
and touch it :-(, I could only look through the observation window about 
half way up.  There was only one technician in the whole bay and he was
reading a book half the time.

The HST is mounted in a gantry/scaffold structure vertically with the 
instrument packages at the bottom.  Several of the instrument bay
doors were open with power and cooling lines running in and out so
they can test various pieces of the vehicle.  There is a dummy cover
over the light gathering end.  The real cover is wrapped up and sitting
on the floor at the other end of the bay.  The vehicle will be moved
out of the gantry in about October (this week's version of the schedule)
and laid down horizontally for some finish work.  The movement is 
accomplished by a crane which runs on rails for the length of the bay
at the ceiling.

Once it is horizontal they will insert another scaffold like structure
into the telescope to epoxy some nuts in place.  I guess there is a
concern that they will vibrate loose and damage/destroy the optics.

The solar wings are in place again.  Currently they are folded up
and look quite yellow. HST is really quite large.  The published specs are:

	Length		43 feet
	Diameter	14 feet
	Weight		25,000 pounds
	Primary Mirror	94 inches

Never having seen a shuttle in person I now have a better appreciation
of the size of the cargo bay since HST will take up most of it.

On the way up the stairs to the observation area there are several
drawings of early HST concepts.  They start off quite different from
the final design but gradually evolve into the real vehicle.  There
are also pictures of several of the mockups undergoing various phases
of testing (shock/vibration, heat, astronaut training).

All in all a very interesting visit.  I wish I could have gotten a 
closer look from inside the bay.  I guess I shouldn't complain, though,
at least I got to see it before it gets launched!


-- 
Blue skies,	| ...sun!aeras!tneale	| 
		| in flight:     N2103Q	|         The hurrieder I go
Tom Neale	| in freefall:   D8049	|         the behinder I get.
		| via the ether: WA1YUB	|