Washington: The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth on Sunday after a mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, landing at an alternative location in California because of bad weather.
The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base after its mission had been extended by two days when bad weather prevented its planned landing in Florida Friday and Saturday.
The crew conducted five spacewalks that added a new camera and spectrograph to the telescope, repaired other equipment and replaced its batteries and gyroscopes. The upgrades should keep Hubble working through at least 2014.
Since its launch in 1990, Hubble has helped scientists to place the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years, learn that black holes are at the centre of most galaxies, monitor planetary formation and discover that the universe is expanding at an ever-faster pace.
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