Astronauts Wrap Up Hubble 'Scope Repairs

After 5 amazing days, spacewalking astronauts finished repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope today and shut the doors to the treasured observatory, which will never be touched by human hands again. NASA said the revived telescope will be better than ever thanks to the astronauts' efforts and should provide even more dazzling views of the universe for another 5 to 10 years.

During this last visit to Hubble, the shuttle Atlantis astronauts outfitted the 19-year-old observatory with two state-of-the-art science instruments, and all new batteries and gyroscopes. The $220 million worth of new instruments should allow the telescope to peer even deeper into the cosmos, as far back as 13 billion years. "This is a really tremendous adventure that we've been on, a very challenging mission," Hubble's chief mechanic said. (More shuttle stories.)