Hubble Payload Prepared for Mission

In Kennedy's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility a crane lowers the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, toward the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier for the STS-125 Hubble Servicing mission. Installing the COS will effectively restore spectroscopy to Hubble's scientific arsenal, and at the same time provide the telescope with unique capabilities. COS is designed to study the large-scale structure of the universe and how galaxies, stars and planets formed and evolved. It will help determine how elements needed for life such as carbon and iron first formed and how their abundances have increased over the lifetime of the universe. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett March 18, 2009
NASA Identifier: 321647main_cos_full