NASA Begins Switch to Backup Spacecraft Hardware

System engineer Mojtaba Abedin monitors Hubble Space Telecope's pointing control system, used to turn and steady Hubble, to make sure that everything is operating properly. The main computer that normally controls the spacecraft, including its pointing, had to be turned off during a switch to backup hardware on July 15, 2021. The Hubble operations team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center performed the complicated switch to backup spacecraft hardware in response to an ongoing problem with the telescope's payload computer. During the switch, the spacecraft was controlled by a special-purpose safe mode computer. For more information about this story, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/hubble-returns-to-full-science-observations-and-releases-new-images For a day-by-day summary of this story, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/operations-underway-to-restore-payload-computer-on-nasas-hubble-space-telescope